(Ok I'm gonna go ahead and start this thing, jump in however you see fit.)

It had been 3 weeks, and not a single job, not one. Of course, to get jobs, people generally needed to know you existed. And for them to know you exist, you had to rescue someone once and a while. Flyers only went so far. So there Rix was, laying on his bed in vain waiting for someone to knock on his door and offerhim a job. To pass the time, Rix had started to try a little white magic, after all, that was important for any rescue squad.

"Come on..." he grunted. "CURE!" he hovered over a shriveled plant. A few sparks of white light flew from his fingers, but they dissapated before they could do anything. "Come on... CURE!" A few extra sparks, then nothing. He smiled with satisfaction, and decided to call it quits. Now it was time to go for a jog along the Mi'hen higroad.

Rix had stationed his headquarters in Luca, for the obvioius reason of the number of people there. Still his base was in a hard to find part of town, something that did little to help his obscurity. He found himself walking through Luca with less then a grin on his face. "When are things going to turn around?" he thought to himself.

So he was on his way toward Luca maybe someone there could help him or find a place to stay for awhile.

After one battle, he watched an armored shell fiend evaporate into dozens of brightly colered snakes of light. "Now there's a beautiful sight..." he bowed his head, "May you wandering soul find peace, and may your anger abate, so someday you may rest on the Farplane." It was a short chant he had always used since he had killed his first fiend. It was actualy more for his benefit, it gave him a resolve to fight.

Suddenly he heard a piercing scream, Rix instinctivly looked the way of the cry. He frowned, "Sounds like someone's in trouble... better go see what I can do." He dashed over to near the travel agency, where a small Al Bhed girl was being harrased by of all things, a malbaro. Rix's eyes went wide, "What the hell is that!?" He yelled, staring at the large geen mass of tentacles and eyes.

"It's a malbaro, they're fiends native to the Calm Lands." A traveler explained to him.

"What the hell is one doing all the way down here?"

"Who can say... I'd like to help that girl, but I'm afraid I'd just be a hinderance."

"I'll do it." Rix excalimed, he picked up a few rocks and threw them at the large monster, hping to draw it's attention. It did, the monter turned torwards ricks, and begun to shoot acid from it's eyes.

"Damn it!," Rix soon found himself busy dodging the acid, trying to find an opening.

Rix didn't bother to see where the arrow had come from, that would come later. Instead he took the oppurtunity to use his scythe to take a large gash from the ginat fiend. A strange green gas erupted from the wound. Rix lept out of the way, but even 10 ft away, the smell nearly made him gag. Shaking it off, he again advanced.

Not a half hour later they finished navigating the city of Luca, and stood in front of the small building Rix called home. "This is it, my home. My base is here as well, I run a rescue outfit. Sin may be gone, but fiends still run ramprant. And the Eternal Calm is not kind to all, and the age has left many behind. Those with vengeful thoughts for Sin, and many others..." Rix paused, "Come on I'll show around."

The building consisted of six rooms, a kitchen, a bathrroom, two bedrooms, an entry hall/ reception like room, and a spare room that was used for storage. The entry hall connected to the main hallway, and the hallway to all the other rooms. They walked through the entryway, passing by the empty desk, Rix could not afford a secretary. "You can have your own room," he beckoned to spartan quarters through the first doorway on his right.

Zurh woke up the next morning, he then got up went to get something to eat after he got something to eat he then left to see if anyone knows about the attack on the Albhed home.

Rix awoke with a start. Getting up from his bed, he quickly groomed himself and got himself some breakfast. Checking the guest beroom and seeing his guest gone, he decided to try to find a part time job, at least until things got off the ground. Locking the base door behind him, he set off into the City of Luca.

Perhaps it was still too early to be waking people up. Perhaps whoever it was that wrote this business card wouldn't even be interested in her proposal and would simply turn her away, annoyed at being disturbed by some girl with a fear of travelling alone. Perhaps it was the lack of sleep that was making her pessimistic.

Fighting back a yawn, Keia frowned and regarded the building before her. After a momentary pause, she reached into one of her flared cream-coloured sleeves and produced one of the cards that she had found by complete chance near Dock Four of Luca Harbour.

It was creased in the corner, a little dirty and a little damp from being trodden on, but she could make out the writing on the inexpensive, unbleached parchment - someone by the name of Rixton Nordith. Whoever wrote it must have been bored and tired, as the text was unnecessarily flourishing and untidy.

Casting another hesitant glance at the windows, she smoothed down her gown and cleared her throat before raising a fist to knock on the door. Hopefully, she would find someone here who could help her.

There was no answer. After a while, she tried again. "Hello? Anyone there?"

Another few minutes of waiting produced no result. Just her luck... She pouted. Well, it wasn't as though she had much of a choice, really. With a little sigh, she sat down on the front steps of the Agency to wait, head in her hands, and before she could even stop herself, was fast asleep.

For a moment, she was almost convinced that she was back in Bevelle and everything was all right.

"Five more minutes, Torbis..." She mumbled.

The cause of discomfort refused to stop its nudging.

"Gosh, what does it take to get a decent sleep around here?"

Keia finally forced her eyes open. "Go away, Torbis." But the person trying to wake her was not her older brother. Confronted with an unfamiliar face, she was momentarily disoriented, and with a gasp of surprise, backed away from the dark-haired young man with such frantic energy that she smacked her head against the door behind her.

This prompted an immediate recoil into a near-foetus position and a petulant whine of "Oww...!"

There was an awkward, somewhat embarrassed pause. Then blushing furiously, she stood, still wincing as she rubbed her head and attempted a smile at the young man. "Um. Good morning... " Force of habit had her perform the Prayer of Yevon in way of greeting before she could stop herself. "Are you Rixton Nordith?"

Keia reached into her sleeve for the business card, but it was gone - she nervously checked her other sleeve, patted her pockets, glanced in her bag, but come up with nothing. She must have dropped it when she feel asleep, and the breeze had stolen it. How stupid.

Feeling even more foolish now, she gave the young man a sheepish giggle. "I - er - found a business card for this address - but I seem to have lost it now - telling me to contact someone named Rixton Nordith if I wanted to hire a mercenary. I came here, but no one answered when I knocked... And I didn't sleep very well last night, so I was feeling a little tired." She laughed again, a weak, forced thing.

"But, you work here, don't you? Would you be interested in becoming my bodyguard?"

The arrival of another young man at that moment relieved her somewhat. In the entire nineteen years of her life, Keia had never really been to one to make a decent judgement upon first meeting someone (a fair amount of heartbreak over boys from Bevelle had confirmed so), but something about this newcomer put her at immediate ease.

If she could trust anyone in this world, she could trust this man.

"Is your name Rixton Nordith? I'm Keia Lim. I'm journeying from here to Bevelle and I'm in need of a bodyguard."

And completely missing to fall flat on her face.

"Ah..." She tried to laugh it off as she picked herself up off the ground, all too aware of how red her face was going. "And your friend? Surely only the two of us would provide no match for the fiends of Spira." Keia turned to the more serious of the two young men. "Would you lend me your services as well? What do you both say?"

Oh, why not...?

"Have you any tea?"

"Eternal Calm as it may be, the roads are still treacherous. I fear that deprived of the notion of Summoning, I am, frankly without any means to defend myself, for my strength lies only in the Healing Arts.

"Name your fee - I will pay each of you half now. Ensure my safe return to Bevelle and you will receive the second half of your payment once we arrive there."

She paused and sipped her tea carefully. "Have I left anything out?"

[Happy New Year, everyone! ^^]

Fair indeed, but privately, quite painful on the purse. Unless they managed to earn gil on their journey, she wouldn't have enough to last the trek.

She steered the conversation away from this. "Truth be told, I have never Summoned, though I came painfully close. Imagine how shocked I was upon leaving the Bevelle Cloister of Trials, entering the Chamber of Fayth and discovering that the Fayth of Bahamut was turning to stone! I had hardly knelt to pray when High Summoner Yuna had already Sent the Fayth."

She sighed. "My only purpose now is life - to save it with Healing or to end it with Sending. But that is rare these days, as Sin is no longer a threat, and deaths are peaceful... And thankfully, less common."

Keia only just managed to resist the reflex urge to perform the Prayer of Yevon again - the quiet young man didn't seem to like it. She glanced at him. His countenance was detached as he leaned against the wall, arms folded, listening.

She still didn’t know his name, but perhaps now wasn’t the time to ask.

If he go with Keia and Rix to Bevelle he could probaly get into the Temple archives becuase the Guado's must of had permisson from somebody to attack Home and then find those responsable for the attack and kill them.

He then open his eyes and looked right at Keia "If you don't mind I would like to help you get to Bevelle."

His manner intimidated her slightly - she didn't dare say more for fear of needlessly irritating him before they even left Luca.

The smile transformed his face drastically, and for a moment she thought he looked almost playful - this guy wasn't so bad! A bit moody, but his sunny side hadn't quite been killed off by it. The moment would be brief, however, Keia was sure, and she kept the intention in mind of making sure his less serious side showed perhaps slightly more often during the journey, even if it meant teasing him.

Er... okay, so her sense of humour wasn't always the best, but she could convince Rix to be on her side... and a challenge was always fun! Operation Make Zurh Smile More was in full swing - inwardly, anyway. Outwardly, it made her unconsciously grin like an idiot.

"... Zurh," she said, more for the purpose of testing out the name than actually addressing him. Then she giggled. "Thank you."

"so when do we leave?"

Keia was caught off guard by the idea of sudden responsibility - she was going to be making a lot of decisions from now on... And well, she didn't particularly *like* making choices, be it what to wear in the morning, or what to do with her life.

And look where that got her.

"Well..." she rubbed her chin, a gesture she was prone to doing when she mused over something. "I suppose you'll both require the rest of the day to prepare, as it's already nearly noon. I know it's unfair to expect you to leave at the drop of a hat... We'll need half a day, at least, to reach the Travel Agency on the Mi'ihen Highroad. So for all practical purposes, I propose we leave tomorrow morning. Is that all right?"

At that, her stomach growled loudly. Yep, it was definitely noon. "... And lunch would be nice."

He needed to get some information on bevelle and how to get the information he needed and he knew just who to talk to.

"Is he always like that?"

Zurh walk into a bar in downtown Luca, then he spotted the man he was looking for and sat down beside him "E haat du kad ehdu dra Bevelle Temple."

the man spat out his drink and looked around after a little while he said "hud cu muit, cusa baubma lyh ihtan Al bhed."

Zurh said "cunno, cu lyh oui kad sa eh?" the man said "syopa fro dra cittah ehdnacd?"

Zurh said "E haat du ghuf fru kyja dra untanc du yddylg Home." the man said "ohhhhh, E sekrd ghuf cusauha fru luimt ramb, pid ed fuh'd pa ayco kaddehk eh drana."

Zurh said "ymnekrd, cu fru'c drec bancuh?" the man said "Ra'c y dasbma bneacd, tuh'd funno oui lyh dnicd res ra yht E ku fyo pylg cu zicd cyo so hysa yht ra'mm ramb kad eh, ra'c icymmo eh yh ehh lymmat Yevon's sword."

Zurh said "dryhgc." and then got up started back toward the agency

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