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The Crystal Rule	By : QueenDraggyofSwords Category: Final Fantasy Games > Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Views: 956 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy: chrystal Chronicles, any of its characters nor am I making any profit off of them.

Chapter List
- 50
- 51
- 52
Chapter Fifty-One

Around the jagged rocks and bends of Kaunda the boat sped. The woman driving it did her best to keep the vessel moving swiftly just ahead of her fellow soldiers that were scouring the waters for the Selkie thief she had hidden in her boat.
Keiss was sitting on the floor of the boat, occasionally sliding this way and that as it turned. The Thunder Crystal Bearer had told him to keep his head down while she made their escape. And while he didn't mind hiding, he did mind not knowing where they were going.
"Do you know how to get out of here by boat?"
"Of course I do!" The cherry haired woman snapped at him as she rounded another corner. Sherry had turned off the boats search lights hoping it would help keep them concealed, but Keiss also feared it would get them lost. She was also banking on the fact some of the search party would stop to pick up Regal, giving her time to escape. However, "There's so many of them… It's like the entire base is out here. How did they catch up so quickly?"
"…How many are out there?" Keiss leaned up to look over the edge of the boat.
"Stay down you idiot! Let me worry about i-"
"Colonel Sherry!" The woman was cut off by the sound of Regal's voice coming through the boats radio. "Colonel! Answer me!"
The woman reached down and grabbed receiver. She yanked it up to her mouth as she held her course steady. "Regal! You're in one piece! Good!"
"Who cares about me- did you get the Selkie!?"
"The Selkie?" She glanced down at Keiss and frowned.
The red head shrugged at her as the Lilty mercenaries voice shouted back at her. "Yes! He jumped into your boat!"
"He dove overboard! I do believe he's trying to swim to shore!"
"Don't be mad, woman! He'd never make it! How could you lose him-?"
"How could you! You had him pinned down!"
The other Lilty swore at her over the radio. "Where's your position! We'll join your search!"
"My position-" Sherry looked up and around. Just over to her left she could see the edge of the shores of Kaunda, and smoke rising up from the grounds around it.
"Colonel Sherry!"
"Yes-" she squeezed the receiver in her hand and it started to spark, "My position is-" bits of lightning flickered around her hand, "Just out beyond the ridges of the islands. The furthest out from the volcano."
"Wh-Wh-Wha-at?" Regal's voice came through a mass of static. "I can't- ar you- thing's interfe-"
The radio let out a spark of its own before the connection went dead. Sherry dropped the receiver and turned the boat towards the volcano. "Selkie! How do you feel about a little trip the volcano!?"
"I don't!" Keiss looked up at her shaking his head.
"Come on! It will be fun!"
"Are you crazy!?" He got up onto his knees and looked over the side of the boat. To his dismay the woman was in fact now steering for the volcano. "You do know that is an active volcano, right!? What do you think we're going to do there?!"
"We're going to hide! While Regal and the others search outward, we'll hide right in the center!"
Keiss lifted his good arm and pointed out over the water, "ON THE ISLAND THAT SPEWS LAVA!?"
"Come on now, Selkie. If our ancestors could traverse this ground with nothing more than steal weapons and a chalice of Myrrh, we can hide among the rocks for a few hours!"
"…You're one crazy bitch, you know that right?"
She turned to him and smiled, "Sane people don't get to be High Commander."

Sherry pulled the boat up to the edge of the volcanic island. Its shores were lined with uneven rock formations and jagged edges from where the hot lava met the cold sea. The Lilty climbed out of the boat into the shallow waters while Keiss took the wheel and they carefully navigated up into the nooks of shore line.
"Here, we can hide the boat here, and we'll take refuge a little further up-"
"This place is dangerous." Keiss interrupted her, "I mean not even counting the fact it's an active volcano, but the monsters here are some of the worst. The absolute worst."
"Are you afraid, Selkie?" She pulled herself up out of the water and into the boat.
"Look, I don't know if you noticed this but," Keiss tried to extend his arm forward. The muscles had cramped up now, he could barely unclench his hand. "I'm not exactly in peak fighting condition. I don't want to run into trouble like this."
"We'll be fine," She reached under the seats of the boat and pulled out a first aid kit. "Now come on."
The cherry haired Lilty climbed out of the boat and held out her hand to Keiss. He took it and allowed her to lead him up the barren shore line.
The air on the island was heavy with hot steam. The temperature was stifling to say the least. Keiss could feel beads of sweat racing down his face, even though all they were doing was walking. The desert homes of the Selkies could not compare to the blistering heat that filled this air. If it were up to him, he'd have picked any place other than the main island to hide. But it wasn't up to him. It was up to this woman he'd just met. The Guild Master's son squeezed her hand as he studied the back of her head and neck.
"…Do you need something?" Sherry turned to look at him. "We'll stop in a minute; I think I see a good place to hide up ahead."
"…Is all of this really just so you have a better shot at being High Commander?" He continued to peer at her. "If you're caught you'll go to jail. You'll lose everything."
"It's a risk worth taking, but I won't get caught." She turned her head back around and kept moving forward. "Besides, I could say the same to you, breaking into the base, stealing from Spinosa… You put a lot on the line too."
"I've got nothing on line…" Keiss muttered under his breath.
"Nothing?" Sherry stopped just before a little alcove of rocks that had formed from years of molten rock building up onto of each other. "…Then you're not the Selkie that was working for Spinosa?"
"…What does it matter if I was or not?"
The Colonel half smiled and shrugged. "I figured you were him… He'd have something to risk. But you say nothing is at stake…" She started forward into the rocks. "I thought maybe you were him, come back to steal from Spinosa to make yourself relevant, still trying to get into the Military, or that maybe Villosie had sent someone to interfere again."
"Why does it matter about trying to get into the Military or not?"
The woman stopped walking and looked back at Keiss; her own forehead was covered in sweat. She was wearing a turtleneck to conceal her crystal. She had to be twice as hot as he was. "You must not be him… If you were you wouldn't ask such a question." She sat down on the rocks and opened up the kit. "He knows, Selkie, the Military holds the power. Power runs this world. It's pretty bold for a Selkie to outright chase that… But I admire him for it."
Keiss sat down next to her and did his best to extend his arm, "Admire?"
"Yes…" she chuckled, "That probably sounds strange to you. That a Lilty would respect a Selkie. But I do." She pulled out a bottle of disinfectant and some gauze. "Because it's bold of me to want to be High Commander just much as it is for him to try and get into the Military." Keiss eyed her as if she was joking with him, but he didn't speak. The cherry haired woman looked up sliming. "Don't believe me?"
"You're a Lilty. The idea of you in uniform or striving for High Commander is not so strange."
"Oh?" She took his arm, pulling it forcefully towards her. The red head cringed just a bit as she did so. "Name a female Lilty High Commander."
"Sure, there was- uh—there was…" Keiss twisted his lips. "There was-"
"The answer is none." She started to clean his wound. "None ever make it. And there are very few female officers. I am one of three. There have never been more than five at a time."
"Well, it's not because you all are kept out of the position. Lilty woman spend all their time being priss and prim and proper and-"
"There have only been a handful of ruling Queens as well. Though there are several instances of the first born in the royal family being a daughter- the throne goes to her brother if one is available." She looked up from her work, "When the King dies, his daughter, Althea will be the fifth in the nation's history. …My family has always served the palace. Every son in my family's bloodline has served in the Military. My ancestor Sol Ratch lead Alfitaria's last Crystal Caravan before the miasma cleared. We have never gone a generation without serving in the Military."
"…And that's important to becoming High Commander because?"
"…Because I have no brother." She looked back down tending to Keiss' arm. "I'm like the princess. There is just me. My father was convinced it was the end of a tradition, and even now while I wear a uniform, he's convinced I'm not doing as well as he ever did, or his father and brothers and grandfather before him. They're all waiting for the day I drop out, I say it's too hard, and take up my place where a Lilty lady belongs. Being 'priss and prim and proper' as you say."
Keiss studied the woman working on his arm. "…You want to be High Commander to prove something… That you're better than they think you are…"
"I think that Selkie is doing the same." She didn't look up at him, "There are plenty of things he could do for money. But he's not after the wealth that comes with riches. Not the way he works, not the way he wormed his way into a place at some of the top officers' sides. Not the way he uses Cid's name to get his foot in the door- no, when I first heard about it I knew just what it was. I knew just what he wanted, because I want it too." She stopped wrapping up his arm and looked up at Keiss nodding. "That's why I was kind of hoping you were him. I wanted to meet the only other person in Alfitaria I was certain was just as overly ambitious as I was."
The Guild Master's son drew his arm a back and clenched his fist. "…And Villosie? I guess she's' uh, my employer?"
The cherry haired woman whipped away the sweat from her brow and chuckled. "So you didn't meet her? Not surprised. After last time I don't think she works directly with anyone anymore."
"Last time…?" Keiss raised an eyebrow to her. "What's the deal with this woman? You said you went to school with her?"
"Vill and I have a history together. When were younger, she knew I wanted to leave school and join the Military Academy. So I never used my crystal. I told her no officer had a crystal, so no one could ever know. She used to berate me constantly about it. She used her's day in and day out- mostly to speed cheat through doing her homework."
"Speed…" Keiss muttered under his breath. There was only one spell in the world that could make you faster. "Where is she now?"
"Don't know…" Sherry leaned back. "And if you didn't get in contact with her directly, then who knows really. But she's probably close by. Villosie's a smart woman. I doubt she'd send you out here without being close enough by to keep an eye on your progress."
Keiss clutched the bag at his side. 'Clockwork's name is Villosie… I feel like I've heard that before.' He looked over at Sherry and let out a long sigh. "How long should we hide here?"
"Just a few hours…" The thunder castling Lilty let out a sigh. "Any longer than that and I think the heat will cause me to wilt."

"I don't think you should do this…" Nadeen shook her head as she helped Layle prop open the window to Keiss' room. "You're going to end up back in the tidal cell."
"No I'm not," The Clavat held up the window on the opposite end.
"Yes you are. Or worse, Milka's going to shoot you." Lotta circled around their feet curiously. She purred as she rubbed up against Layle and Nadeen's legs trying to get their attention. "Can't you just let it go?"
"No I can't. I'm going to go find her and talk to her. She has no reason to lay into Keiss like she does. And if no one else is going to set her straight than I will. I mean-"
Nadeen shook her head and took a deep breath, "You're still babbling for Crystal's sake. There's no way you can sneak around like that."
Layle pulled himself up and through the window. "Just leave it unlocked okay?" He looked outside and down the sides of the ship. The boards of the hull were uneven in most places. Some jutted out here and there making narrow ridges to balance on. He swung his legs through the window and held onto its edge while he lowered himself down to the first one. "I'll be back before you know it. Without any gunshot wounds."
"Sure you will…" Nadeen leaned her head out the window and pointed up the ship. "Milka's room is directly below Vaigali's. You can't miss her window. It's got a side latch for Artimicion to fly in and out of."
"Artimici-who?"
"Just- just look for the window with a Moogle door okay?"
"Well why not just say that's what it is to begin with?"
"Quit talking! The guards will hear you!" She shooed him off and slowly closed the window.
"Quit talking, the guards will hear you." Layle rolled his eyes as he spoke in a mocking tone. He held onto the edge of the ship with his magic and used the broken and loose boards that jutted out from the sides as platforms while he made his way to the back. Occasionally he had to make his way by a window or could hear the guards walking around just on the other side of the walls through the ships slanted hallways. He had to literally bite his tongue to keep himself from reacting out loud to the chance of being caught.
It took the Crystal Bearer at least fifteen minutes but he finally made it to the end of the ship where Nadeen informed him he'd find Milka's room. Layle slowly scaled up the walls looking at the windows, trying to find the one with the latch he'd been told about. Overhead he could see the back end of the Captain's room, the elaborate wall of windows had a light shining out of it. He could only assume Vaigali was up in his office. If the Guild Master decided to come to his window and looked down he's see Layle snooping around outside.
Finally the Clavat found the room he was looking for. There were two windows right next to each other, and as Nadeen had promised, one of them had a small latch on its bottom half. Made so that only a tiny portion of the window could be opened while the rest remained shut. He hung onto the boards on the sides of the windows and tested their sides with a weak gravity spell. Layle kept pulling at the windows carefully trying to unlock them. Normally the task would be easy; however he was hanging from the side of a ship with his arms shackled together. Pulling to hard and too fast he could lose his grip or make enough noise to alert someone to his presence.
It was another three long minutes before he finally heard the lock click.
Layle slowly opened the window and climbed inside.
The room itself was mostly dark. There was a lamp burning in the corner to allow its owner to see once she returned for the evening. The dim light stretched across the walls and the decorations that hung around the room. Assortments of rifles were mounted on one side of the wall and a large locked tool chest was under them. Across from the rifles there were two desks, one with a vanity and one used for work. It was covered with papers and maps, books and writing quills and ledgers. Just below the window Layle was climbing through was the bed.
He slowly moved to its edge and continued to look about the room. On the wall next to the window there were several pictures all hung up like the wall itself was a scrap book. Pictures of the crew, of islands, of dungeons, of different places and times in Milka's life. Layle looked over the pictures and picked out a woman with short orange hair a few times. Sometimes on her own, sometimes with Milka and again with Kei Nam. He could only assume the woman was Nadeen's mother. There were lots of pictures of Kei Nam and her friends peeking out from under the more recent images.
Over top of them there were pictures from the very coastline they were at now. Of Vaigali and the crew, the resort, and much more. Along the edges of the wall of pictures were images of Kei Nam and Vaigali or Milka and Vaigali. Yet no matter how long he searched he never saw one of Keiss. Layle backed up shaking his head. He supposed it made sense there weren't any considering how she reacted to him. The Clavat turned around and observed the room trying to figure out where he should wait for Milka until she returned.
He stood next to the door and thought about hiding behind it. "No I may startle her and she could shoot me point blank if she's armed," He muttered to himself looking at the rifles. He walked over to the tool chest and tried to open it thinking he'd hide inside. He could hear metal clanking about. It was probably filled with more weapons. The Clavat backed up and took a seat at the desk. "She's well-armed. Guess she's more of a pirate than a pretty face…" He opted to wait for her out in the open. It seemed like it was a better idea not to startle her.
Layle turned his attention to the desk he was at and picked at a few of the papers. They were various reports on Guild actives, deals they were trying to make and a book recording the funds coming and out of the Guild. It seemed like the former pirate woman was in charge of helping to keep the Guild organized.
"Makes sense, Nadeen did say she was from the original crew…" Layle leaned over and started to pull at the drawers trying to open them. However he found most of them were locked tight. "Of course."
Just as he was sitting back up he heard footsteps out in the hall. The Clavat turned around in the seat and watched the door waiting. He could hear the person in the hallway approaching, slowing their pace and coming to a stop just outside the door. For whatever reason they lingered for a moment, as if waiting for something. Layle clenched his fist getting a spell ready to defend himself just in case her initial reaction was to attack first and ask questions later.
Slowly the door opened and the female pirate took a step into the room. The first thing she saw was Layle waiting for her and she stopped at the threshold.
"…Shouldn't you be in Keiss' room?" She watched as he shrugged at her, fist still tight with a faint spell growing around it. The woman rolled her eyes and shut the door. She had a bag under her arm that she dropped on top of her tool trunk. "What are you planning to do? Fight me? Take me hostage and try to escape?"
"No," Layle looked half insulted, "I just came to talk."
"Then why the attack," Milka took a seat at her vanity next to the other desk. She waved her hand at Layle's as she spoke. The woman was completely calm about having an intruder in her room.
The Crystal Bearer looked down at his hands and unclenched his fist, releasing the spell. "Just in case you didn't want to."
Milka leaned back in her seat and laughed, "Just like Keiss, assuming you know how it's going to go and proving to be entirely wrong." She looked back to her vanity and began to remove her jewelry. "What do you want, Crystal Bearer?"
"I want to talk to you about Keiss and Vaigali."
"Oh?" She didn't look at him as she continued to remove her adornments and put them away. "And just what do you have to say on the matter?"
Layle watched her as she continued to ignore him. "Do you really think it's helpful for you to exacerbate the problem?"
Milka hesitated for a moment as she took off one of her rings; then she chuckled, and continued on. "Whatever do you mean? I don't contribute to the problems betwe-"
"You don't think you fighting with Keiss adds to the problem? Openly hating him? You don't think that lessens his chances of wanting to come back?"
"Openly hating him?" She finally turned back to Layle scowling. "You think I hate Keiss?"
"Nadeen said so. That most everyone form the old crew dislikes him, you seem to the most though." Layle leaned forward in his seat. "You're the one that's Vaigali's right hand. You obviously help run this place- Don't you think you're adding to the problem? Don't you think you should let up on him?"
"The only one adding to his problems is Keiss himself!"
"Milka I just watched you attack him in the halls! Over his dead mother!"
"Damn right I did!" She slammed her palm down her vanity, "If Kei Nam was here, she'd be livid! She'd go mad with grief over the way he acts!"
"You can't just throw salt in old wounds like that! You get everyone worked up and pissed off- So long as Keiss is here shouldn't you be trying to make him stay! To make things better!"
"What do you know about making things better?" She sneered at him, "You bear a Crystal. Everywhere you go you never make things better."
"Says who?"
"Says anyone with sense. Your kind are nothing but abominations." She leaned back in her seat, "Outcast, dregs, and wanted."
"…Most Lilties would say the same about Selkies."
"The Lilty are wrong."
"And so are you," Layle stood up. "And was I. I guess I can see why Keiss is so adamant about never returning. What's the point in coming home to a place where you're hated?"
"I don't hate Keiss." She looked up at him, "On the contrary. I love that aggravating, little barnacle brat."
"Oh really?" Layle crossed his arms, the chain links between his hands clattered. "Could have fooled me."
Milka stood up and pushed him aside. Layle watched as she unlocked the top drawer of her work desk and pulled the whole thing out. She turned it upside down and hundreds of pictures fell out; probably just as many as what was up on the wall. They dropped with a collective thud, and some fluttered out and drifted off across the floor. She took a step back and motioned to them. Layle flicked one up with his magic and brought it forward.
It was a picture of Keiss and Vaigali sitting on one of the rope bridges out over the Guild. He looked at her and then leaned forward and picked up a handful of photos. They were all the same thing. A picture of Keiss somewhere around the coast at some point in time.
"Keiss is my best friend's son." Layle looked up from the pictures. "How can I love her, and not love him?" She reached down and picked up a photo herself. "How can anyone on this ship say that they are loyal to Vaigali and honor Kei Nam, and not love their son…?"
"If you love him so much, then why all the fighting?"
"Crystal Bearer, don't you love anyone?" The female pirate didn't look at him as she picked through the images. "Doesn't anyone love you? Do they take it easy on you? Or do they make your life hard? Do you make their life hard…?" The woman smiled at the picture in her hands and turned it to him. It looked like it was a picture of a party of some sort. There was a younger image of the Guild Master, a pintsized Keiss on his shoulders with a bandana too big for his head and Milka trying to give the boy a piece of cake. The rest of the crew was in the picture too. A young Nadeen and her mother, and a few other Selkies all smiling and waving to whoever was taking the photo.
"Maybe we're a bit hard on Keiss, but it's not because we hate him. Those that were bitter that we stayed on land left a long time ago. Vaigali saw to it that they did. Those of us that stayed don't hate anyone in this crew." She turned the picture back around and set it on her desk. "Especially me. …Do you think he didn't have help with that brat? When we crashed here there was nothing. From day one, we went to work building this Guild, building its network, the funds, the business… And while Vaigali was busy we all took turns making sure Keiss was okay. Maybe I took him a little longer than most- but she was my friend. I never met a Selkie like Kei Nam and I was going to be sure her son had it better than she did."
The female pirate took a deep breath, "So maybe I get mad, when Keiss gets uppity. Maybe I yell at him, and curse him, and attack him- but I don't love him any less. There are only two things I know in his world for certain. One is I am loyal to this ship's captain through and through, and the other is that I love that stupid bilge rat brat of his more than I am loyal to him." She slowly sat back down in her chair and picked up another picture.
Layle watched her for a second. She completely ignored him as she picked through them, flipping them over and shaking her head. Finally the Crystal Bearer turned away from her and started for the door.
"…I don't know what he's chasing out there," Milka looked over at Layle, "We gave him everything right here, I always thought."
"He wants to be High Commander. He said- the Crystal promised you all, all the world's wealth."
"…We used to chase wealth all the time." Milka looked down at her pictures, "Kei Nam was always on about treasure. She stayed on board to see it, the greatest treasure in the world. And now… We have it. Vaigali and I have it right here. I have hundreds upon hundreds of pictures of the wealth Kei Nam sought… And I don't have a single picture of her and her treasure together…"
"…" Layle looked on as the former pirate blinked a few times. From the ends of her eyelashes the faint silhouette of tears could be seen.

Nadeen sat up in Keiss room waiting for Layle to return. She played with Lotta while facing the window. The orange haired Selkie had expected him to return that way, so it startled her when the door to the room opened. She was expecting Vaigali to come in looking to interrogate Layle again. But it was just the Crystal Bearer.
"You're back!" She looked to the window and then to the door. "You, uh, didn't get caught did you?"
"No," Layle sat on the edge of the bed with his back toward her; the cat crawled toward him. He started to pet her absent mindedly.
"…What did you say to Milka?"
"I thought maybe if they stopped fighting, Keiss would come back."
"And what did she say?" Nadeen leaned forward trying to look at his face.
"…Nadeen, what do you think the Selkie Crystal's promise means?"
"Huh?" She tilted her head, "Well, our Crystal promised us all the world's wealth was ours. So… I always figured that one day I'll be able to have everything I ever wanted." She nodded.
"And what do you want?"
"Me?" The girl shook her head, "No, I can't-"
"Keiss wants to be High Commander. He says it without hesitation, you're going to tell me what you want is worse than that?"
"No." She pulled her legs forward and sat next to him. "To tell the truth, I want an airship, like Keiss."
"That's it?"
"That's it!?" She crossed her arms. "For information, that's more than just 'it'. Selkies are nautical folk. Owning and flying and airship are drastically different from our way of life." She tilted her head back, "But I want to fly. I want to touch the sky each and every day. Being on land, being in the desert… it's such a bore."
"But you're the Lynari's best tracker and guide."
"Only so I can earn up enough for an airship!" She uncrossed her arms and smiled at Layle, "Don't tell my Mom, okay? She'll flip. At least Keiss has the balls to pursue his dream openly."
"Yeah," Layle looked down at Lotta and scratched under her chin. The bell tied around her bow jingled.
"But what does that have to do with Milka?"
"I don't think she can stop fighting with him. I don't think any of them will stop fighting, ever. Keiss' dream it's too different form theirs."
"Yeah, that sounds about right…"
The two sat in near silence. Only the sound of Lotta's bell filled the room until Nadeen spoke up again.
"What about you? What about your Tribal Crystal's promise?"
"…The Clavat Crystal?"
"Yeah, what's your dream?"
"…Clavat's are supposed to change the world. But we're nothing but a poor, run down working tribe."
"…So you don't dream of anything then?"
"Just of an adventure." Layle looked up at the picture of Kei Nam on the wall. "And maybe of seeing Keiss as High Commander."
"Well then!" Nadeen pat him on the back, "If you help him make it, wouldn't you say, you changed the world?"
Layle snorted at her. "Sounds like something Lyra would say. But, I guess it's not untrue…"
"If they can't stop fighting, then we have to be the ones to be here for Keiss right? We can be his crew. You and me." Nadeen leaned back on the bed and put her hands behind her head. She closed her eyes and smiled.
Layle watched her and slowly lowered himself back onto the bed as well. "He's still a part of this crew you know. They still, really treasure each other."
"Yeah I know. Vaigali and Milka really worry about him. And he really cares about what they think. They just don't know how to talk to each other outside of shouting all the time."
"You think they'll ever stop?"
"I hope so. It'd be a shame if they fought up until the bitter end. I can't imagine what that would be like for them."
"Yeah," Layle closed his eyes. "I hope your right about that."
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The Crystal Rule