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Konokku glanced again at her new summoner. His silence was beginning to bother her. She was so used to the thousands of voices crowding in all around her, whether she was in Bevelle or Luca, that this sudden peaceful silence on their boat was almost unnerving. She still couldn't believe she had finally found a summoner at last. After fifteen years of waiting and training, this strange half-Ronso had come gliding up alongside her as she stood cheering the Kilika Beasts in the stadium. He had stood waiting for her all throughout the match, and when she turned to leave, he strode solemnly alongside her. Their followed conversation was all in a muddle in her memory, but this strange man had done what no one else had, and asked her to be his guardian. Or maybe she had asked him. She couldn't remember.
Konokku sat on the floor several feet away from her summoner, her back resting against the tall railing of the deck. She was rather short, giving the impression of a young teenager, though her face told all that she was around twenty-five years old. Tight black curls bounced about her shoulders, sometimes hiding her roundish face quite effectively. But even so, her green eyes shone out with a gaze that seemed to evaluate everything as a likely foe. She wore a long, simple black dress with a sweeping design of silver vines that began on her left shoulder, lazily curling around her body several times to end up near her right foot. She always tied a black sash around her waist, both to keep small items in and to use as a shawl whenever the need might arise.

(( xp "Proposing to someone..."))

Konokku sighed slightly, fiddling about with her sash, until her fingers closed around a hard lump of something she had stuck in there. An idle sort of idea crept into her mind, and she absently pulled out the small stick of chalk. Starting to run out, she thought. She shrugged her shoulders and decided nothing could be lost by practicing, after all. Carefully sketching a strange symbol on the wooden planks of the deck, she cast her eyes about for some material. At last she spied an extra length of rope lying not too far off. She pushed herself to her knees, grabbed the rope, and placed it into the small circle. She thought a moment before placing both hands inside the circle, palms pressing against the deck.
Golden light sprang up all along the chalk lines she had made, enveloping the rope and twisting it to the design in her mind. When she felt it was finished, she brought her hands away and straightened up to examine her handiwork. The rope lay there as before, but now it had twisted and molded into itself, creating a strange and nonsensical pattern. But the ropes had seamed together until they looked as if they had been twisted that way from the first, and that had been her intent. She nodded with satisfaction, then placed her hands on the circle again. The golden light spiraled about the rope again, changing it back to the way it was.

Konokku frowned and glanced again at Lord Satoh, shoving her chalk back into her sash and sitting back again. Well, what was she supposed to do about it? She didn't carry medicine for seasickness. But an antidote soon presented itself, as one of the crewmen called out, "Land ahoy!"
Konokku pushed herself to her feet using the railing, and looked out to see a small island coming into view. It was much like Kilika, she decided; a sandy tropical island with a forest covering its heights. She breathed in the sweet salt air and happily watched the lone wooden dock of the island of Besaid slowly grow larger.
At last they touched the dock with a small bump, and the crewmen hastened to tie it up and set down a ramp for the passengers to disembark. Konokku watched the fishermen who lay their catch out to dry, remembering the days when her father would come home reeking of dead fish. Not an entirely wholesome smell, but it was one of the few memories she had of her father, and thus she treasured it more than a mountain of gil. But then her eyes slid nervously over to her summoner. Would he be all right? Was she expected to help him somehow? She was, after all, his guardian.

"Erm...yes, my lord..." Konokku managed to mumble, slightly taken aback that he had spoken to her. Well, what do you expect? she asked herself angrily, as they turned towards the ramp that led onto the dock. He can talk, can't he? Just because a guy gets seasick doesn't mean he's doomed to never talk again. Konokku felt distinctly incompetent. She had grown so used to waiting for an event that would never come; now that it had come, she was unprepared. And...Lord Satoh...well, no offense to His Lordship, but she couldn't say that she liked him very much. She had always seen the summoners who passed through Bevelle as the very avatars of nobility, sneering in the face of danger and giving their lives freely for the sake of Spira. But Lord Satoh...well, all she had seen him do up till now was hurl over the side of the boat. It wasn't exactly her mental image of the Lord she would serve. She supposed it came from his being half-Ronso, but she was rather surprised that he could be seasick, coming from Luca. Ah, well.
The fishermen bowed as low as possible as the pair stepped off the stinking planks onto the golden sand. The sun beat down on Konokku's head mercilessly, and not for the first time she regretted her choice of color. The sand sucked at her boots as they walked alongside the pounding surf, and she could feel its heat through the thick leather. She glanced surreptitiously at Lord Satoh again, hoping his sickness had fully passed.

Konokku remained silent as they trudged along the path. She wished Lord Satoh would say something, if only to break the silence. I thought everything would be different, she thought. Now that I'm a guardian at last, I thought I could...well, I never thought summoners could be so forbidding. They always seemed nice when they passed through Bevelle. She didn't dare glance at him again, and so kept her thoughts to herself as summoner and guardian started down the tall hill towards the village.
Konokku looked around contentedly when they passed under the archway into Besaid Village. It had a familiar sort of feel to it, though she had never been on the island before; tents of every shape, size, and color clustered around a shallow depression in the middle of the path. Besaid was known for the sturdy yet exquisite cloths the villagers wove, and Konokku had known some to pay vast sums for but a small square of Besaidan cloth. Directly across from her, the stone temple frowned down at them from its seemingly lofty height - though it was a relatively small temple compared to most others. Townsfolk wandered to and fro, calling out greetings to each other and their new visitors, in no rush at all. It was all so vastly different from the city Konokku had learned to love at least to a certain extent, but she relished the change.

Konokku started and stared at Lord Satoh for a few moments before realizing what she was doing and hastily lowering her eyes. "My...my favorite colors, sir? I...I like green, sir." She wasn't exactly sure where he was going with this. What did he care what colors she liked? He was definitely a strange summoner. But wait. What if all summoners were really like this, and she had been mistaken all along? Well, it was nothing she couldn't handle, and she decided she'd best get used to Lord Satoh's strange ways.

Konokku flushed and nodded. How could she have ever thought of Lord Satoh as rude and incompetent? He was simply a kind man who wasn't afraid to show his weaknesses - if that was what you chose to call them. She followed close on his heels as they entered the inn, promising to herself that her allegiance would never waver again.
While Lord Satoh had been inside the shop, she had had ample time to consider the pilgrimage that lay before them. She had run over the road all summoners made so many times before now that she could say it in her sleep. The truly rigorous parts wouldn't come up for a while; at the beginning they simply had to concentrate on getting used to each other and obtaining the aeons. Konokku knew that fiends were especially attracted to summoners, since the mighty warriors were so accustomed to death, and she dreaded the many days ahead of them that they would spend in fighting fiends. But that was what a pilgrimage entailed, and they would both have to train their minds and bodies to be strong before the end.