We sat around our small campfire, eating the last of what actually turned out to be a pretty decent meal.
"How did you manage to find such tasty things to eat?" asked Kuto-Lulu, scraping the last of his plate clean.
"It comes with being the son of a farmer," I replied, looking into the small flames. "You learn what you can eat and what to avoid. Sometimes you can even make it taste pretty good." I smiled, leaning back against my pack. "And I brought some of it with me, like the dried meat and some of the greens. So it wasn't all found around here."
"Well, it would've been nice to have you along on some of my other adventures, you know. We travellers always appreciate a good cook." Kuto-Lulu belched softly, then covered his mouth and giggled. "My compliments to the chef," he said, his eyes shining mischievously.
I laughed easily, and scooted a little closer to the fire in an effort to keep warm. "It certainly gets cold around here at night," I remarked. "To be honest, I'd hoped to be in a nice cozy inn by now." I laughed, looking upward into the night sky, and added, "Though this is nice."
A faint scuffling sound to me right told me that Kuto-Lulu was moving closer, probably to have that little talk he had alluded to earlier.
It was several more quiet moments before he spoke, his voice sounding uncharacteristically serious. "What's your real story, Aspen?" he asked. "You say you're the son of a farmer, and you certainly look the part. But then you can cast White Magic, which you need training to do, so..?" He trailed off, leaving the question hanging.
I sighed gently, shifting my gaze back down to the fire. "I am the son of a farmer," I began after a moment, "but not truly by my birth. From the way my Da told it, they found me sleeping in one of the windmills one day on the Konschtat Highlands. They took me home, and no one ever came to claim me." I shrugged gently, keeping my gaze steady on the flames.
"But what about the magic," came the interruption from my right, the Taru evidently deciding I would never get to the point without some help.
I help up my hand gently. "I'm getting to that," I said with a faint smile. "As you know, it usually takes some time and training to be able to cast magic of any kind. I...never had any kind of training, at all. I've always been able to do a small amount just by willing it to happen."
Kuto-Lulu nodded, silently urging me to continue.
"My Da told we should keep it a secret. He said that others...wouldn't understand. And of course, there's a few people who would really want to find out why I can do these things without training." I shuddered a bit, adding, "I really don't want to spend the rest of my life as some study subject."
"Oh, I hear there's plenty of gil in being a study subject," Kuto-Lulu said, trying to make light of the situation. "My uncle did that for a while, and he made enough to buy a dhalmel farm!"
I laughed, shaking my head gently. "Is that the same uncle who was the first Taru to climb Dekfult's tower? Or the one who fell into Ifrit's Cauldron and lived to tell the tale?"
"Nooo.." came the defensive reply, as Kuto-Lulu began giggling.
"In any case," I continued, "we hid the fact that I could do these simple spells from everyone for my whole life. But recently, my Da decided I should have a better life than that of a farmer, and urged me to head into the city to seek my fortune." I shrugged, adding, "I suppose he thought I would take up life as a cleric in the Republic Army."
Kuto-Lulu giggled, saying, "And I can be the first person to say I knew Gold Musketeer Aspen when he was knee-high to a Quadav." At this, he dissolved into a fit of giggles, rocking back and forth on the ground.
I nodded, saying, "And that brings us up to this point. I'm headed into the city, trying to figure out how on Vana'diel I'm going to make ends meet."
"Welll...," interjected the Taru, "you could always be an adventurer, like myself. Your talents could really come in handy in the field, you know. You'd have no trouble finding yourself a nice group to fall in with."
I shrugged, saying, "I never pictured myself as the adventuring type, you know. I always figured I'd be a farmer like my Da, scraping an honest living out of the soil. It might lack a bit in excitement, but it's a lot safer." I laughed, and added, "Though I would like to see the world. Farmers don't get to do that."
Kuto-Lulu nodded emphatically, saying, "That's right! You want to see the world, you have to be an adventurer, like me!"
"Let me sleep on it," I practically yawned, rolling out my bedroll by the fire. "Do you mind taking the first watch? Those spells left me a little tired." I laughed softly, already looking forward to crawling between the blankets.
"Go ahead and sleep," replied the Taru. "I'll make sure no harm comes to us in the middle of the night."
I drifted off to sleep quickly, glorious visions of adventure-dom dancing in my head.
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