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The following morning, the family got their things together and left after having breakfast. They made their way back through Macalania Woods to get to the path that would lead towards the Calm Lands
Koneko~it’s weird that there isn’t another road that connects the lake to here
Ann~well, we could always go through the forest and off the path, but it’s too dangerous that way. That’s why we stay on the marked roads
Reiketsu~but we can handle it
Ann~I never said you couldn’t. I said it was dangerous. Even if you are able to fight a hoard, all the trees are overgrown, and the roots makes fighting difficult. If we were back home, I’d be all for fighting in there for a challenge because we’d be able to maneuver a lot easier.
Tenka~but you have with grandpa?
Ann~yes. He let me because he could keep an eye on me easily.
Reiketsu~and literally
Ann~hehe yes and literally. It was only us, so if something went wrong it’d be easy to fix
Koneko~but since it’s all three of us it’d be too hard…especially if we wanted to go off on our own?
Ann~yes. I’d rather not lose one of you.
Tenka~like…at Djose?
Kiba~hey, that was none of your faults. No one knew that that machine was going to rampage like that. It was a freak accident
Koneko~okay…
Reiketsu~it was my fault though…I was supposed to keep an eye on her too…
Ann~do you kids want to take a break real quick?
Tenka~it’s okay mom. I don’t think we should stop here anyway because of the pyreflies
Reiketsu~you’re right. Maybe at Bevelle?
Ann~how did you know we were going to Bevelle first?
Reiketsu~koneko was looking at a map and figured out there’s a fork before the Calm Lands
Ann~hehehe you guys are so good at figuring things out by yourself. Definitely didn’t get it from dad
Kiba~hey!
Ann~hana’s told me things
The triplets laughed as they went along

It did not take long for them to reach the fork to Bevelle and the Calm Lands. Following the path the city, the soon came to a paved road. They took the main road towards the heart of city, and the family were greeted by the gullwings.
Ann~hey girls. Fancy meeting you here
Paine~we’re glad that you’re just passing by
Ann~oh come on, I wasn’t that bad
Rikku~no, we really are!
Koneko~what happened?
Yuna~well…there’s two women who claim to be sir auron’s daughters…
Ann’s eye narrowed
Ann~so you wanted me to take care of it? You know that may not end well
Paine~risking it. One of them claims to be you and is causing a commotion
Ann~oh hell no. I won’t stand for that
She removed her bag and shoved it into kiba’s arms before striding off. The others trotted along
Reiketsu~what’s so bad about people claiming to be grandpa’s kids? He’s famous, wasn’t he? Isn’t there a chance of him taking advantage of that and keeping it a secret?
Ann~Auron is also a married man. Cynical or not, he’s always been loyal. He would sooner sleep with jecht or lord braska before even thinking about a brothel. Pretty sure mom would have killed him otherwise…
Rikku why did you drop sir jecht’s honorific?
Yuna~and why did you imply that they would engage in sexual acts together?
Paine~I thought your mom died before him?
Ann~I just don’t like him, them getting into a relationship with each other is easier to cope with than the alternative, and dad told me that lord jyscal had left the farplane
The girls nodded at that response. Closer to the temple, they came to a crowd
Tenka~mom, will you hold back?
Ann~very well. I won’t charge through
Ann approached the nearest cheerer
Ann~excuse me, but I need to get to the front
Man~so do I miss. But you’re not any more special than me
Ann~I beg to differ. If this is to fawn over auron’s daughter, you got the wrong girl up there
Man~and who are you to drop the great guardian’s honorific?
When he finally turned he stared
Ann~his true daughter
Man~m-m’lady!
He bowed.
Ann~thank you. Think you can find a buddy? I promised that I wouldn’t charge down, but I still need to get through
Man~what can I and a friend do?
Ann~I just need a boost to yell over everyone
Man~one minute, lady ann
He ran off to find a friend
Kiba~are you sure this is holding back?
Ann~of course. The alternative is powering through everyone
Kiba sighed but nodded. Koneko tugged at rikku
Koneko~have you seen her this mad?
Rikku~the only other time is with wantz.
Reiketsu~you don’t understand. Mom is seething at this. We just came from their shop and even when she wasn’t toying with him, she wasn’t like this
Paine~what she did to him wasn’t angry?
Tenka~there’s certain subtleties, but yes. That incident was revenge.
They paled as the man returned
Man 2~but lady ann is up there. Why is this one suddenly the real deal?
Man 1~I told you, the real on has as scar just like sir auron and has a fierce aura
Ann~you don’t give me enough credit. Most say I have a demonic aura
Man 1~i-I did not mean to offend m’lady
The second man bowed to her
Ann~I’m glad that those who have met me 20 years ago still remember me. Now, I only need you guys to carry me for a minute. Then I’ll be on my way and my husband will pay you kindly
Men~husband? was it arranged?
Kiba~honey, you’re scaring everyone again
Ann~go back to the airship then
Kiba~someone has to keep you in check
Ann~alright, alright. Better than if uncle was here
Men~she really is the real deal
Ann directed the two men to kneel down then to hold each other’s shoulders, so their arms could support a person. Ann sat there and instructed them to stand
Ann~it’s going to get very loud, so I suggest you cover your ears
Everyone did as commanded, and ann even covered the ears of the two men carrying her
Ann~ATTENTION EVERYONE
The commotion soon stopped as people looked around to find the source
Ann~APPERENTLY, THIS IS A PARTY TO CELEBRATE SIR AURON’S DAUGHTER
She hopped down and started to stride to the front. The people created a path for her and the others. Those who were old enough bowed to ann while younger ones started to bow after seeing yuna
Ann~EXPLAIN TO ME WHY WASN’T I INVITED? IF THERE’S GOING TO BE A PARTY, INVITE YOUR GUEST OF HONOR!
She continued to give acknowledgements to those who bowed for her as she got closer to the front platform
Ann~IF THOSE WOMEN CLAIM TO BE DAUGHTERS OF SIR AURON, THEN THEY WILL STAND THEIR GROUND AND PROVE IT TO ME. FOR I AM THE TRUE DAUGHTER OF THE GUARDIAN TO LORDER BRASKA, THE WARRIOR MONK SIR AURON
She got to the front where the two women were at opposite ends to the platform. They were dressed in simple spiran clothing that had intricate designs on the cloth
Ann~look here, if one of you were supposed to be me, you should have made it more believable. Neither of you can strike fear with a look
Ann easily hopped up the 5-foot platform
Ann~which of you is supposed to be lady ann?
Fake~I am
Ann turned to the left one and looked her up and down
Ann~I’ll admit, you have a little brass for responding so quick
Kbia~ann, tone it down
Ann~if I’m going to be impersonated, then it has to be done right
She turned back to the girl
Ann~how old are you?
Fake~23
Ann~wrong answer
Fake~how can-
Ann~auron was an unsent. He couldn’t have fathered you
Fake~40 then
Ann~he’s not a native spiran. Maybe we were a hundred years ago, but neither of us grew up here. Do you like to fight?
Fake~no, i-
Ann~what about a favorite weapon?
Fake~nothing. I don’t like to fight
Ann~full name?
Fake~it’s just ann
Ann~relatives
Fake~only father
Ann~why no scar?
Fake~okay I’m a phony!
Ann made a feint with her sword causing her to flinch.
Ann~pansy a** b***h. The next time you impersonate someone, educate yourself on how they act. You chose the wrong woman because I can-
Kiba~ann enough! And put your sword away
Ann growled but handed off the weapon to paine then walked to the other girl
Fake~ w-was s-she going to…
Kiba~only if her impulse control weren’t here to save you. Rikku, get the kids on the airship
Reiketsu~are you sure you can handle mom by yourself?
Kiba~she’s never had a reason to kill me yet
Koneko~careful daddy
Tenka~get the rest of mom’s weapons
Kiba~how many?
Tenka~twenty
The girl continued to stare at them as rikku lead the triplets away. Kiba went to ann
Paine~just so you know, when she was 13 she kicked our asses and was still able to run the steps to kilika temple a few dozen times

Kiba~take it easy on this one.
Ann~we’ll see. So, what’s your name cupcake? I wish I had my telepathy. Could have been done already with this bullshit
Kiba~hold it. Ann, the rest of your weapons. And no magic either
Ann sighed and pull off her pouch and holster. He counted the items
Kiba~all of it
Ann pulled out ten more from various hidden pockets and one from in her pantleg. Satisfied, kiba backed off
Chuami~m-my name is chuami. this woman’s crazy for having so many weapons…at least she doesn’t carry any firearms or rifles…
Ann~chuami? Alright. You look nothing like auron
Chuami~I don’t think the scar counts
Ann~maybe so, but you don’t have the correct eye color or facial structure. If you only look at half of my face, I’ve been told we look a lot alike
She pulled her hair back and turned to the right to show only the unscarred half of her face
Ann~how old are you?
Chuami~I’m 37
Ann~you’re only a few years older than me, but that’s enough to prove you’re not another spawn
Chuami~you talk very highly of yourself. Why are you the real deal?
Ann~lady yuna had sent auron after they defeated sin. Two years later, he returned. With me
Chuami~now you’re throwing names!
Ann~well, she is behind me. I can tell you whatever you like and she can recount the same event
Chuami~well…considering that man made you give up your weapons…and you almost attacked that girl…was there anyone else you came close to killing when you came with sir auron?
Ann~oh yeah. My personal favorite since everyone on the Celsius thought I snapped when it happened. I beated the ever-living s**t out of wantz and o’aka. Everyone was trying to pull me off but auron said that if they continued I really would have killed the poor b*****d
Chuami~what did he do?
Ann~groped me
She looked at her funny
Ann~I was 13 at the time
Chuami~y-you were ready to kill someone?
Ann took a careful step forward to whisper in her ear without it being overheard by the crowd
Ann~after I got this scar, I killed the person who caused it since it was going to kill my friend. That happened a couple months before the airship incident. That person wasn’t my first kill either
Chuami gulped but continued to hold her ground. Ann stepped back then motioned for yuna to come
Ann~yuna-nee! Assistance
Chuami~who is she that she can-
Yuna gave ann a bow
Yuna~yes lady ann? Oh, chuami. How did you…?
Ann~you know this fake?
Yuna~yes. Sometime after you and sir auron left, we were having some issues with the sent being beckoned back from the farplane. Everything got situated after that. Chuami, I never heard you were lady ann’s sister
Ann~she isn’t
Chuami~she is sir auron’s daughter?
Yuna~yes. They are not spiran. Sir auron had unknowingly left his wife pregnant before serving as guarding to my father
Chuami~but…
Ann~there’s no way auron would leave my mom for over a week just to sleep with yours four years before I was conceived. You’re not a spawn
Chuami~but…since I was a girl…
Ann~very few can remember what they were told before a certain age. As far as what you remember, you’ve only been told auron was your father after they had brought the calm
Chuami~w-why are you being nice now?
Ann~I thought you were like that bimbo. You were told a lie your whole life
She nodded and wiped her eyes.
Chuami~how did you know sir auron was your father?
Ann~my uncle told me. And when he came unannounced, he was saying how much I grew. Uncle saw him and started saying he ran out on my mom
She shrugged and turned to the crowd
Ann~I am still the only child of sir auron. Let’s continue this party! Drinks are on me!
The crowd cheered and headed off to the closest tavern
Ann~my mom also had a locket. It has a picture of him before the scar
She took it off her neck and passed it to chuami. She opened it and saw auron, then held it up to compare his facial features to ann’s
Chuami~you really do look a lot like him. You also look just like your mom
Ann~depending on the person, I can frighten them without saying anything because of that
She motioned the others to start walking
Ann~yuna, can you have someone watch the kids tonight?
Yuna~are you and kiba unable to?
Ann~yeah. I just need them to stay on the airship
Yuna~what are the two of you going to do?
Ann gave a sly smile and raised her eyebrows suggestively
Yuna blushed~i-I guess it has been a while with your adventuring
Ann nodded and got her locket back
Chuami~lady ann…what you said about your scar, is that really true?
Ann~do you want to know the truth, or do you want to believe what you want?
Paine~the truth is scary
Kiba~ann, I thought auron kept you from trouble while you were here?
Ann~didn’t stop me from sinking a ship
Kiba~was there any place where you didn’t scare anyone or destroyed something?
Ann~yes. Here and mount gagazette
Paine~what did you break at the calm lands?
Ann~a pillar while I was helping Clasko
Yuna~and at Djose temple?
Ann~I almost broke Gipple. I only scared him though. So, Chuami?
Chuami~the truth
Ann~yeah, I did what I told you. Not the worst I’ve done, but it wasn’t the best-case scenario either. There’s some things I’m not proud of doing too
Yuna~are you okay?
Ann~yeah. It’s from when I was little. I didn’t have much choice in the matter
Kiba~hey, don’t worry about it. I’m pretty sure ane already punished him for it at some point
Chuami~who’s “him?”
Ann~my uncle. She probably has.
Paine~someone can beat him?
Ann~oh, I guess I never specified. My mom is his older sister. I can also beat him now. I just choose to lose cuz he still carries me
Chuami~is that a big deal?
Yuna~lady ann sparred with us before and won. This was after sir auron had her run the kilika temple stairs a couple times. She ran it after too
Chuami~that’s…that’s terrifying…
Ann~I’m glad I haven’t lost my touch
Kiba sighed and hit her
Ann~hey!
Kiba~you’re going too far again. You promised that you’ll only do this when the kids are around
Ann~oh fine. I’ll relax
Ann sighed and rubbed her eye
Paine~are you actually tired?
Ann~yeah. I’m getting old. I dunno how I keep up with the kids
Kiba~you’re trying way too hard to scare people and beating the crap out of them
Chuami~but…they’re your children?
Ann~strict training regimen. Kiba you know this and knew it was going to happen well before I was pregnant. Where’d that fake go? I feel like scaring her some more
Paine~I sent her off. After you, she won’t be doing that again
Yuna~are you still going to drink?
Ann~hell yeah. Do you have any idea how tiring it is to be angry, yuna? I’m starving and need a drink
Kiba just sighed and shook his head, knowing that she won’t relax until they were finally alone
Chuami~is…is this a normal occurrence?
Paine~she used to be a lot worse than this. Even with sir auron she wasn’t that well behaved. He believed that she’ll learn faster if left to her own devices
Ann~best way to learn control paine. You know for a fact if I didn’t hurt myself half the time you guys would have had a harder time with the aeons with me thrown into the mix
Yuna~I’m still unsure if it would have been harder. With your strength, I feel like those encounters would’ve been shorter

They got into the bar where everyone was already drinking
Ann~bar keep! Gimme two shots and a pitcher. This honey needs to get hammered
Kiba~you need to slow down
Ann~but-
Kiba~I let you do a lot of s**t. I need for you to listen to me on this
Ann~okay. I’ll let you order the drinks
Kiba~thank you
When their drinks came, ann and kiba took their shot together, then he held onto the pitcher to pace her
Chuami~that was frightening…
Ann~cupcake, if you want frightening I have stories for days. Sit your asses down and I’ll tell you my war stories
Paine~she isn’t a bad drunk, is she?
Kiba~not at all. She’s in good company so she doesn’t feel the need to censor herself. So, she forgets that we’re not allowed to tell them those stories
Ann~but she doesn’t know half the horrors!
Yuna~ann, I would appreciate it if you didn’t recount those kind of tales
Ann took a moment to look her over and noticed that she was uneasy about hearing the violent encounters. She nodded at the request, deciding that yuna would not be able to cope well
Ann~okay yuna, I promise to refrain from it. I don’t have any stories to tell now though
Kiba~you need to relax. Just sip at your pint and let us deal with things.
Ann~last time I did that you and the triplets ambushed sensei without me. You didn’t even bother to record it
She sipped at the beer and pouted
Chuami~my head is reeling…does this woman have multiple personalities or what? Murdering, kind, killer, childish? She is the complete opposite of how everyone said sir auron acted…is this the mother’s side?
Ann saw her staring at her, so she winked
Chuami~did…did she wink at me? How do you wink with one eye?

Ann had managed to drink all afternoon and into the evening without getting poisoned or destroying something. The other patrons had called it quits hours ago. Kiba picked ann up
Ann~babe…put me down. Not enough yet
Paine~you were eating and drinking for 12 hours. The only reason you weren’t cut off was because you bought out the place for the whole day
Ann~but I’m not done yet
Kiba~babe, you can’t even throw the darts anymore. You’re all done
Ann~nooooo…
She fell asleep against him
Paine~back to the airship?
Kiba~I don’t think it’ll be a good idea. She might freak out while coming back to her senses.
Chuami~but you’ll be fine? You drank a lot too
Kiba~I drink more often than she does on nights off from missions. I’ll get us a room for the night and we’ll call you in the morning to get the triplets. This way she won’t accidentally sink the airship too
Paine~good idea. Yuna told me that they didn’t demand anything for the damages because it was sir auron, but he still forced ann to help with the manual labor of building another
Chuami~she was the one to sink that ship? What did she do?
Kiba~neither she nor auron told me the details of that fiasco. I never pressed them for it either
Paine~they said something about getting in a fight with eh mechanic and destroyed the engine. Then it caught the hull on fire
Chuami~I’m pretty glad that I didn’t meet her then. She sounds like a handful. More so than tonight
Kiba~yeah. We’ll see you around

The next morning ann slowly woke
Ann~kiba? Where are the triplets?
She stuck her arm out and felt him, but didn’t feel his chakra
Ann~kiba?
She shot up and pulled back the covers, startling him awake
Kiba~what? Did something happen?
Ann~what’s happening? I thought you were…you normally wake up when i…can you not hear my thoughts?!
Kiba~breathe ann. Breathe and relax first. You’re safe from danger
Ann~but!!!
Kiba~relax first. It’s okay. We’re in spira
Ann took a breath and wiped her eye
Ann~not in the leaf?
Kiba~no. the triplets are fine too. They’re on the airship with the gullwings
Ann~okay…kids are safe…we’re safe…what did we do yesterday?
She wiped her eye again and relaxed into the sheets
Kiba~there were two women who said they were auron’s daughters. They were both frauds and then you drank a s**t ton
Ann~yeah. That sounds right…after that?
Kiba~found an inn and spent the night.
Ann~doesn’t explain being naked
Kiba~really good drunk sex
Ann~oh…did we…
Kiba nodded and she blushed
Ann~that explains my butt hurting too
Kiba~go shower, that way you can get the triplets while I take mine
Ann~okay. They’ll be glad to know I didn’t destroy anything without them
Kiba~go, before I have to bathe you
Ann yelped and hurried along, knowing he’d do more than bathe her

After a while, they headed out and went to a sphere to call the airship. Brother picked up
Brother~ann? Are you okay? Your kids made a mess!
Ann~then have them clean up before sending them down
Brother~[but what if they turn on me? I can’t fight them at once]
Ann~just tell them that-
Kiba~tell them they won’t ride chocobos
Ann~oh, that’s a better punishment than what I had
Brother~okay. I’ll try.
Brother left, but kept the comms open. They heard yelling then screaming before brother came back
Ann~they cleaning up?
Brother~Oac! Thank you!
Ann~yup. See you around
She cut the comms and leaned against kiba. He kissed her then lead her to sit at the table
Kiba~may as well wait and probably get something to eat for the kids too
Ann~yeah. Not too much to do here. So after we visit the temple we can go on towards the calm lands.