From the Heavens (Final Fantasy XVI)

𖥸 XL 𖥸

Lyra and Clive enter the infirmary and found Mid, Jill, Joshua, and Tarja. The couple walked over to the youngest Rosfield.

"How are you feeling, Joshua?" Clive asked his brother.

Joshua turned to him and the goddess. "Better than I was."

Tarja was quick to speak up. "But not nearly as well as you should be. Your cuts and burns may have healed, but your body still bears the burden of every spell cast."

Joshua turned back to the physician. "And what would you have had me do? It was no ordinary foe we faced. It was the Warden of Darkness. Yet still it was not enough." He crossed his arms with a troubled expression. "The king could have ended me at any moment, but instead chose to toy with me like a coeurl does a mouse."

Clive tried to assuage his brother. "You... You underestimate yourself."

"Oh, it was crystal clear. Only one man established his dominance that day, and that man was Barnabas." Joshue then promptly apologized. "I am sorry, Brother. That was...ill-spoken. It's just... I have never felt so powerless...and when so many are looking to us for strength. Perhaps... Perhaps the prince feels the same."

Lyra placed a hand on her hip with a heavy sigh. "Those who possess more strength tend to find joy in toying with those of weaker standing. There were even gods who sought to pass the time by playing with the lives of others."

"And yet, you are not one of them," Joshua remarked. "You possess considerable power yet see everyone as your equal. You do not toy with the lives of others unlike Ultima, Barnabas, and Indra. It seems we have been blessed by the heavens themselves that such a benevolent god is our ally."

"You even refuse to allow others to bow to you," Clive added.

"The innocent should not fall at the feet of any god. It is those who wish to toy with life that should grovel before me and beg for penance," she said. "Even then, I shall show them no mercy."

"Do you not desire to be worshipped?" Joshua asked out of curiosity.

She shook her head. "No, and I never have. Even when the Fallen chose me as their deity, I tried to convince them it was unnecessary. Worshipping a god seems to make them develop an ego not even this world could sustain."

"And yet even when you were worshipped, you remained unchanged," Clive said.

She sighed at being cornered by both of the brothers. "Heavens, you both are relentless..."

The brothers chuckled.

After their laughter died down, Joshua changed the subject and asked his brother, "You will be returning to Waloed soon, I gather?"

"I see no reason to wait," Clive answered.

"Then neither do I."

Tarja crossed her arms with a stern expression. "I can think of a few...but I doubt they'll stop you. You will take your medicine."

Joshua smiled at the physician. "Of course, Lady Tarja."

"Set on leaving already, are you?" Mid inquired as she and Jill joined them.

Clive turned to the engineer. "How long will it take us to get back to Ash?"

"Dunno. About the same amount of time it took us to get here? Maybe less if your uncle can find someone trustworthy to patch up the Enterprise. All depends on where we're putting in to port, mind."

"Yes. It's not as if we can put ashore wherever we choose," Jill chimed in. "We have to assume that the whole of Ash is hostile, and that we'll be attacked on sight."