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After the bitter cold of the Paramina rift, sitting on a sunny rock in the refugee village on Mt. Bur-Omisace is a very fulfilling pastime, I aimlessly pretend that sitting in the sun is the only thing that concerns or troubles me, this is not the case however, as I urgently need to go to the temple and speak with the Grand Kilitas. However the sun is already setting and I don’t want to start the ascent if it will be dark when we arrive. In addition, some of the party have other motives for wanting to stay an extra night as well,

            ‘It’s a festival night Larsa!’ Penelo shrieks to her young friend, and the little diplomat smiles weakly at her,

            ‘Penelo, I doubt a party is reason enough to delay our journey to the temple’,

            ‘Loosen up Larsa,’ Vaan teases, ‘you gotta know how to have fun, isn’t that right Penelo?’ he gives Penelo a wink and she plays along with his game,

            ‘Yeah Larsa, if we were always serious then how boring would the world be?’ Larsa looks to me for support, but I just shrug at him. Wherever Vaan and Peneloare and however serious a situation may be, they always end up in helpless fits of laughter, and on this occasion it is Larsa who has to suffer for it,

            ‘It is up to The Lady Ashe to decide whether we stay or not,’ Larsa skillfully hands the problem to me, now if I say no then it will be me who looks like a tyrant; touché Larsa, I think with a smile, good politics for a future emperor,

            ‘Come’on Ashe, oh I mean princess,’ Vaan hastily corrects himself at this informality, I wonder if I’m really that scary, as he continues ‘can’t we stay here tonight? They’ve got spare shelters and everything’

            ‘Well…’ I say, deliberating the pros and cons of a nights delay to our journey, and if Larsa would think any less of me if we made his guest wait,

            ‘What talk do I hear of a festival?’ Balthier drops into the conversation grinning as usual; I notice the scratch still remains on his face as he walks by me, a reminder of my atrocious behavior in the Golmore Jungle. I have not spoken to him much since that incident, but he’s been giving me an abundanceof devious looks, which I have been trying to ignore,

            ‘’There’s a festival tonight in the camp and we can join in if we want’ Penelo excitedly twitters, ‘The Kilitas here said we are all welcome to join in and there’s going to be…’

            ‘Yeah but Larsa says we should ask Lady Ashe if we can stay,’ Vaan interrupts, he obviously doubts I will side with him and Penelo, but it is Balthier who speaks next,

            ‘And has she given an answer?’ officially he is still talking to Vaan but he looks at me, ‘personally I’m never one to miss a party, perhaps she will concur?’ if the weather wasn’t so pleasant I might have wanted to move on quickly, and would have swiftly discarded any talk of staying, but I don’t want to leave just yet either,

            ‘I am sure we can afford one night of festivities…’ I declare, and Penelo gives an overjoyed squeal, grabs Larsa’s hand and Vaan by the strap of his jacket, then runs giddily runs off into the camp dragging the two of them behind her, Larsa seemingly unimpressed by my decision and Vaan seemingly unimpressed by being dragged along by Penelo. I realize that with them gone it is only Balthier and I who remain, I believe Basch has gone to speak with the merchants, and Fran is nowhere to be seen. Being alone with him makes me nervous, as I think he expects me to throw myself at him whenever the chance arises, which I have no intention of doing. He sits down facing away from me, then leans back on his hands and tips his head back so it rests gently on my shoulder, as if I were a makeshift piece of furniture created for his convenience, however I allow this indiscretion to pass unnoticed for the time being,

            ‘Will Her Highness be joining the festivities tonight?’ he says in a disdainful tone; very absent-mindedly he lifts a hand before his face, resting a little more of his weight on me so that he is precariously balanced on my shoulder, and he inspects his rings, mine among them, twisting them around his fingers; I observe he had tan lines under many of the rings, testimony to his seasoned lifestyle,

            ‘Balthier’ I say sternly, ‘I will have to insist you stop calling me by my titles soon, as you never cease to make a mockery of them’

            ‘Mockery, Princess; is the very least of the things I would like to do to you,’ he coolly remarks, I roll my eyes; I did wonder how long it would take before he managed to slip some innuendo into the conversation,

            ‘Do not be crude’ I shift my shoulder so that he loses his balance and nearly falls over, he leans on one elbow and looks over his shoulder at me, then with an exaggerated look of remorse he declares

            ‘Ashe, it was not my intention to be vulgar, I do apologise’ I cannot help smiling as his honest facade cracks into that devilish grin; I am feeling too good-natured today to be bothered by his teasing. I stretch out on the slab to absorb the last of the suns rays as he props himself up on one arm, then when he slides his legs over the edge of the boulder, I place my feet neatly into his lap and he makes no effort to move them, I rest my head on my hands, and feel him studying me for a while before he says, ‘ I must say Ashe, I never realised how very odd your shoes are’

            ‘Hey’ I give him a small kick, feeling as immature as Vaan and Penelo, which is an enlightening change,

            ‘Ah-ha’ he says as he works out how to remove the outer metal frames of my footwear, and eases them off, leaving me in my soft leather boots, I flex my feet as they are sore and aching from all the walking,

            ‘Balthier, do you really find it necessary to remove my shoes?’ I ask sarcastically,

            ‘Princess, it is much easier to give a woman a foot rub if her shoes have been removed first’ as he speaks he takes my left foot in his hand and rubs down the full length of my sole, then begins to massage it with both hands, ‘if the lady were to insist upon wearing her cast metal footwear, it would make my task considerably more difficult’ he rolls his knuckles across my heel, ‘and rather painful for your said masseuse, it would also…’ I would’ve liked to make him stop whilst he prattled on, but he really has quite a talent for massage, and it feels sowonderful I can’t bring myself to it. He stretches my toes and runs his hand up my calf, squeezing the muscles slightly, which is so calming I nearly doze off several times, startling myself awake with a jump. A tiny voice in my head whispers ‘Rassler never did this for you’; I tell it to be quiet and stop ruining the sensation, because although on other occasions this might have been intimate, right now it’s nothing of the sort, and I can enjoy it with a clear conscience. When my left leg feels completely weightless, he takes my right and works loose all the strain that has built up over this journey, his miraculous fingers picking up every slightest ache or tension in my muscles and alleviating it, I am nearly asleep again when he rather abruptly stops, his therapeutic fingertips stolen away, much to my disappointment,

            ‘That feels wonderful Balthier why did you stop?’ I enquire, opening my eyes but staying reclined, looking up at the sky as it fades from blue to red across the horizon, the strata of orange and purple clouds ripping it up with bright shards of unnatural colour, I hear someone clear their throat, someone I don’t think is Balthier,

            ‘It may be something to do with me Princess’ a gruff voice states, and I can detect the irritation in his tone, but I do not intend to relinquish this experience without a fight,

            ‘Basch, what is a simple foot rub between friends?’ I casually comment, still not sitting up, as I don’t want to meet his eyes, and currently cannot be bothered with the exertion as am fascinated by the shifting shades of the sky as the sun sets,

            ‘Pardon my being forward Your Highness, but I think ‘friends’ is an understatement’ I laugh contemptuously at how much of an understatement it really is, but Basch doesn’t know that so I retort,

            ‘Basch it means nothing,’ he starts to answer me but I cut him off, ‘I am also too relaxed to argue with you now, so come talk to me when the weather turns,’ I hear Balthier laugh quietly, and for some reason it causes my heart to flip, but I dismiss the feeling as he begins to rotate my ankle again, continuing my massage. Basch stomps off unhappily as Balthier kneads the ball of my foot, I bask in the dying sunlight, perfectly relaxed and content, I sigh gently;

            ‘The festival will be starting soon,’ he softly says, stroking his hand down the back of my leg in a gesture that is rapidly changing into something more than just companionship, however it will lead nowhere, I can tell he wants to go and join the party more than he wants to stay here with me,

            ‘ If you want to go then go,’ I bluntly comment, a little upset that he wants to abandon me,

            ‘Why in Ivalice would I leave without my dancing partner?’ he asks, as if it were completely ridiculous to assume he would arrive at any festival unaccompanied, and I realize he intends me to joinhimin the revelry,

            ‘Dancing…’

            ‘You don’t think I have been limbering these feet up all this time to not get a dance with them do you?’ so that’s why he’s been sweetening me up all this time, I knew it was unlike him to be nice without an underlying motive,

            ‘But…’ I protest, as I haven’t danced in years and I am unwilling to start again,

            ‘No buts. Shall we be getting on then?’

            ‘Well…’ I try to make up a reason not to go, anything to keep the two of us here, as the prospect of staying alone is much less attractive,

            ‘Come along now’ he slips my shoes back on much quicker than he took them off, ‘we wouldn’t want to be late would we?’

            ‘Do not patronise me, pirate!’ I sit upright and look fiercely at him; I cannot stand being patronised, least of all by men like him, I am not a young girl anymore and I will not tolerate being treated like one!

            ‘Ah, we’ve not heard that one in a while…’ he boldly remarks, and I ready myself to argue, but his smile in the soft sunlight breaks me,

            ‘Oh…be quiet and lets go’ I relent, finding myself wanting to go with him simply because it’s me he wants. Standing before me he holds out his hand, which I take, and link my arm through his as we make our way down the hairpin pathway into the main encampment. I hear music faintly start up in the distance as we descend the hill, which he hums along with merrily, tapping out the tune on my arm; I realize that he will be demanding a dance, something I was hoping he might forget about. But he gives my arm a gentle squeeze, and it dawns upon me that thereis nowhere in Ivalice I’d rather be.