Yuna

Yuna
IC Information
Full Name:	Lady Summoner Yuna
Gender:	Female
Age (Birthdate):	17 (going on dead)
Hometown:	The Isle of Besaid
Hair Colour:	Brown
Class:	Hero. Summoner. Doormat.
Role:	Drifter
Bounty:	0 Gella
OOC Information
Theme:	Final Fantasy X
Major Group:	None
Minor Groups:	None
Player:	User:Lucia

"Don't say it isn't worth it... because it is. Even for a little while... people can sleep in their beds without being afraid. That kind of time is worth anything. Don't say it isn't worth it."

Yuna became permanent public property the day that her father killed himself and became Spira's fourth High Summoner. She was somewhat able to escape the limelight on the rural isle of Besaid, and there won the hearts of a new found family who were the first to become her Guardians once she decided to follow in her father's footsteps. Spira has few celebrities, and Yuna feels enormous pressure to give the public whatever hope she can -- and to do the right thing to protect them, and the world that she loves. The world whose pain she feels so profoundly. Gentle and soft-spoken, but not soft-willed, Yuna's steel resolve is quickly becoming another of Spira's legends -- as will she, if she's able to execute her plan, and thus herself, in order to defeat Sin.

Powers and Abilities

White Magic

Magic isn't always hereditary in Spira, but it helps, and both of Yuna's parents were white mages, so nobody was really surprised when their daughter turned out to be as well. After the traumatic experience that caused it to flow out of her at full strength for the first time, she spent the next several years in training at Besaid Temple, beneath the white mages among the nuns and priests. The violence of Sin has caused her education in white magic to expand ferociously through terrible experience -- first when he attacked Besaid, prior to her pilgrimage; then in the aftermath of Kilika; Operation Mi'ihen will soon demonstrate that Yuna can heal whole battlefield's worth of survivors, and push herself beyond her limits to do so. She also knows that she could use her magic offensively, to bring peace and passing to the undead, though she has yet to do so.

Although it isn't a requirement of the art, to Yuna white magic has become inextricable from her summoning in the sense of being a deeply empathetic experience for her; she prays through the chants of Yevon for salvation, but her magic is driven by her heart, by her deep sense of others' suffering and urgent need to relieve it. Yuna's white magic is always, one way or another, an expression of love. Love of Yevon (for now), love of Spira, love of its people, both in general and in particular.

'Holy', one of the most potent offensive magics in Spira, is a bit different -- she will always feel sorrowful when she invokes her magic to do harm to the living, once she becomes capable of it. She isn't yet. Holy will be a symbol of her resolve, and how much she has grown.

Summoning

Yuna is a summoner, like her father before her; after awakening to her potential, she threw herself into study on Besaid Island as an apprentice summoner, then immediately set out on her pilgrimage once she gained her first aeon and full standing. Her whole career has been defined by the urgent threat of Sin, and the immediacy of its atrocities, as she rushes to become worthy of the ultimate sacrifice.

Yuna is a summoner of unlimited potential because of her extraordinary capacity for empathy. It is her defining trait, and also her doom. Yuna is suicidal in her need to relieve the pain of Spira which she feels so directly and personally; it is why she became a summoner and why she continues her pilgrimage even as an excommunicated heretic.

Because of her strong ability to connect with pyreflies and fayth through the power of feelings, Yuna's practice of the art is very different from the norm. Sendings are an extremely emotional experience for her, as she opens herself to the grief, pain, and rage of the pyreflies of the recently dead, and then forces herself, and therefore them, to accept their death and move on, a high-stakes catharsis that she experiences directly alongside them.

But a summoner isn't just a pyrefly dancer: they are ghost whisperers. Yuna takes it a step further, as a shaman in a classic definition of the term -- she is a spirit carrier. An aeon is born from the union of the soul of a summoner and the soul of a fayth, the willingly sacrificed spirit of a person now bound to a statue and trapped in eternal dream, except when they get to go on walkabout with their petitioners. In a Chamber of the Fayth, a summoner prays for the honor of this union, and it is, if granted, both literal and permanent. In the instant that they merge, summoners momentarily experience the whole of a fayth's life (and vice versa), and though they do not retain the knowledge and memories of each fayth, they do retain the most important underlying feelings, the emotions that made that fayth who they were and are, which becomes the basis of their bond... which is expressed, externally, in the form of an aeon.

Merging with fayth to produce an aeon is a similarly emotional experience for Yuna. The first time Yuna presented herself to the fayth, specifically Valefor's, it took her a really long time for a variety of reasons, but one of the foremost ones is that she was trying /really hard/ to do as she had been instructed by the priests, to stick to the traditional prayers and gestures. It was all very rigid, and in some ways it just wasn't really /her/. Once Yuna found the courage to stray from their instructions and simply open her heart in the way that has always come so naturally to her, to give herself fully to the fayth not as a priestess but as a person, as one young girl connecting to another, the rest was -- not easy, but simple, as she sometimes likes to say. (After learning to trust herself and the fayth and allow them to connect as people, the rest of her experiences in the Chambers of the Fayth were MUCH faster, though still exhausting, arguably moreso than for most, because of how much of herself she pours into it.)

All this is another way to say that Yuna loves the fayth and the aeons, and the fayth that live inside of her love her too, as does the symbol and product of their merging. Together, all this love produces miracles.

Day to day, Yuna, truly attuned to the fayth she has given permanent homes within her soul, is never alone. She can feel the fayths' joy and sorrow and rage and even humor as they see through her eyes -- and feel through her heart. Hearts can speak and they can listen, too, and in this way Yuna and her fayth have deeply meaningful, and ever-evolving, relationships.

Besides being a nascently powerful summoner simply because of who she is, she is also rapidly gaining skill from all-too-regular battle experience, and is soon to receive some direct training from the (secretly Unsent) summoner mentor Belgemine. She uses her aeons wisely, playing to their strengths and covering for their weaknesses. Extremely early in her career, she was sometimes too conservative, wanting, paradoxically, to protect her aeons, to not want them to get hurt. She still wants that but has figured out, correctly, that the best defense for an aeon is a strong offense.

Miscellaneous

• Staff Technique: Yuna can bonk people with her staff; she's been training with it since she was a little kid, since it's a tool for both white magic and summoning. She isn't super effective, but actually it's her favored defense against benign threats, like Al Bhed kidnappers. She'd rather do too little damage than too much, and wouldn't dream of summoning her aeons to fight other people.
• Al Bhed: Yuna was raised bilingual by her parents, a tradition carried on by her father alone once her mother was gone (it became a way to remember and honor his wife), but she never got to use it outside of speaking to him, and, given an intervening decade since he was alive, has forgotten most of what she knew. What little she retains is very girlish and sweet, and she can't read it at all.
• Dancing and Singing: Yuna is a highly trained dancer -- dancing forms the core of the vital Yevonite ritual of Sending, even if it's basically the saddest dance possible. She has great body control, earned through years of practice. She also has a naturally beautiful voice with a wide range, though no training with it and minimal experience outside of the Hymn of the Fayth and other prayers.

She is not an eager performer, and tends to have to be urged to the stage (outside of times when it is her duty, as it is with the Sending). But she is naturally expressive, and given the opportunity, her powerful feelings are strongly communicated through song and dance.

Someday, the Songstress dressphere is going to be /lit/.

• Blitzball: She's not there yet, but Yuna will have cause in her retirement to Git Gud at holding her breath, swimming, and ultimately totally kicking butt in the Blitzball arena. YRP! YRP! GOOOO GULLWINGS!!

Logs and Cutscenes

Chapter 1, Act 1

Logs

Cutscenes

Chapter 1, Act 2

Logs

Cutscenes

Chapter 1, Act 3

Logs

Cutscenes

Chapter 1, Act 4

Logs

Cutscenes

Chapter 1, Epilogue

Logs

Cutscenes

Chapter 2, Act 1

Cutscenes

Chapter 2, Act 2

Cutscenes

Chapter 2, Act 3

Cutscenes
2020-10-06: The Trial

Chapter 2, Act 4

Cutscenes

Chapter 2, Epilogue

Logs
2023-06-30: Dawn of Souls 2023-07-15: Stranger of Paradise

Cutscenes
2023-04-23: Never Forget

Chapter 3, Act 1

Logs

Cutscenes

Relationships

Guardians

• Kimahri: Kimahri, unique among everyone in Yuna's life, is the only person who has never left her -- who stayed, just for her, when she asked him to. He's been a scary savior in Bevelle to the only one she'd chatter at when she was shy around everyone else as a little, to now, when he's the one she shares her deepest secrets and fears with -- and, very rarely, her tears. Yuna adores Kimahri, would do anything (except not defeat Sin) to avoid causing him pain, and there's nowhere in Spira she feels safer than in his arms. (Even if she's a little old to sit on his shoulders these days.) Because of Kimahri Yuna has a very high opinion of Ronso in general.
• Lulu: In part because they're both girls, in part because they're both mages, in part because they shared a room growing up, in part because they also share a history of grief involving pilgrimages and summoners, and in part simply because of who they are, Yuna is much closer to Lulu than she is to Wakka, and was to Chappu. She knows Lulu better, and is known by Lulu better, than anyone else on Spira. They've been helping each other dress, and doing each other's hair, for ten years! That's really close.

Lulu is much more big sister than mother, but either way, a bit of an authority figure in Yuna's eyes -- she always wants to make Lulu proud, and it's Lulu she looks to first for approval of her actions and decisions. Yuna hugely admires Lulu for her intelligence, her determination, and her oft-hidden kindness, but would never think of it those terms -- she just loves Lulu for being Lulu, because she's Lulu. Yuna is painfully aware that she's putting Lulu and Wakka through the wringer by becoming a summoner, and feels that their willingness to become her Guardians, despite the pain it causes them, is a debt she can never really repay. Defeating Sin for them is the only way to even come close.

• Wakka: Wakka is, for all intents and purposes, Yuna's big brother, plus chief of a tribe of other big brother figures in the Aurochs, and their relationship has developed accordingly. Wakka (and Chappu) were more likely to lead her into games, pranks, and fun as a kid; they were also the guys who taught her how to live on Besaid, in the sense of fishing, gathering, ocean and jungle safety, and so forth.

Wakka and Yuna have a special bond, among The Besaid Breakfast Club, because they are, and were as children, by far the most pious of the group; they've spent a lot of time in Temple together, even if Wakka didn't enroll in a formal course of study as a priest as she did as a priestess. They also have a special distance that only one of them knows about, because Wakka is pretty stereotypically racist against Al Bhed, and thus, along with other villagers, a major reinforcement to Yuna's fears of being rejected by them if she's anything less than perfect. If someone that close to her hates the Al Bhed that much... dare she go to anyone (except maybe Kimahri) with her deepest feelings and fears?

• Tidus: For Yuna's part, everyone in the village was her friend but no one was her date; no one approached, for obvious reasons, and she wasn't all that interested anyway. She was busy; she was firmly immature in that way, overflowing with love for everyone, but platonic love only. As such, the star player of the Zanarkand Abes represents the first time Yuna has ever really Looked at a boy. She has no idea how to deal with these feelings she gets when he's around; it's pretty much puppy love, baby's first crush.

They have a lot in common. He represents a link to her father and Sir Jecht, to their past. He is HER AGE -- she had a lot of big brothers and sisters on Besaid, and a lot of tiny admirers, but nobody right in her age group. He is both a celebrity (in Zanarkand) and the child of a celebrity (although they feel very differently about their fathers). She's known him for like a week and wants to confide everything to him forever but TALKING! IS HARD! WHY IS THIS SO AWKWARD?? She doesn't even know how to tell him that she wishes they didn't have to part ways in Luca; all she can think to do is wish that he'd become her Guardian, the only framing she can think of to keep him close by.

She is also attracted to Tidus' suffering, which she feels acutely, of course, because that's who she is. She doesn't see Chappu in him, but she senses his confusion and misery at being thrust into a whole new world and wants to soothe it, to help him feel better. And, because of who he is and the mysterious place he came from, Tidus ultimately represents, most of all, an escape. An escape she'd never be able to commit to by turning her back on Spira, but being distracted by visions of Zanarkand dancing in her head is pleasant, indeed. Much more fun than thinking about her own incipient death. All the more reason not to tell him about it. Someday... but not yet.

• Auron: Yuna calls Auron "Sir Auron," or just Sir, which pretty much summarizes their relationship, especially early on; he's the closest thing in the world to a father figure, because she knew him when she was little, and because he was her father's best friend. And since Yuna's culture reveres Braska as a martyr, and his Guardians as all but saints, she does too -- especially Auron (she was too close to Braska, and Jecht was too goofy, but Auron fits the type). She defers to him without the slightest bit of resentment, while hoping that by spending time together, she can come to know him, and her father, better. However, this deference only goes so far -- Yuna knows her own mind and will make her own decisions, with or without Sir Auron's approval... ESPECIALLY if they're being made to protect him.
• Rikku: Where Auron represents a connection to Yuna's father, Rikku is the living bridge to her mother -- and her mother's side of the family -- and her Al Bhed heritage. Despite Rikku's kidnapping attempt, Yuna and Rikku hit it off immediately; family is family, is so important to Yuna, and she immediately recognizes Rikku's good intentions, deeply understands her motivations, after years of working through it with Lulu and Wakka and Kimahri. She also knows that Rikku only agreed to be her Guardian in order to try to talk her out of going through with the pilgrimage, and she doesn't resent this. In fact, their relationship, over the years, is going to be basically defined by Rikku deciding that Yuna's life is unacceptable and taking action to change it -- Yuna, ever the peacemaker, is both willing to go along and get along, and tends to enjoy the makeovers. It's all too easy to just let destiny carry her away... but Rikku takes Yuna out of her comfort zone instead, over and over, and Yuna loves her for it. Having to break Rikku's heart in Zanarkand breaks Yuna's heart now.

Family

• Braska: Yuna is honored to be his daughter, driven to follow in his footsteps, and in the deepest, darkest part of her heart, wishes that he had never become a summoner, but stayed with her instead.
• Rikku Sr: Yuna barely remembers her mother; one of her only remotely solid memories is of being told to go to her uncle if she's ever in trouble. Other than that, it's all associations... mostly with how, before she died, life was fun, and then after she was gone, everything changed. She really has no idea what her parents were like together but tends to assume, from her father's recollections, that they truly loved each other and had an ideal relationship. She worries, though rarely consciously, that her mother would be ashamed of her for hiding her Al Bhed heritage (or at least not actively calling attention to it).
• Jecht: Yuna only met Jecht a few times but he made a big impression -- appropriate, since he's a man with such a big personality. She adored him as a little girl, and he spoiled her shamelessly. This picture does not fit at all with Tidus' tales of neglect and cruelty, which is something she's still figuring out how to navigate tactfully.
• Sin: As a good Yevonite Yuna genuinely believes that Spira DESERVES to be ravaged by Sin, on some level. But as a good person she knows, even more deeply, that Spira deserves to be freed from Sin forever. It is the summoner's highest ideal, and hers as well. And even if it isn't forever... she will gladly die to free Spira from Sin for the length of a Calm. Don't say it isn't worth it.
• Cid: Yuna is dying to know her uncle but assumes his disapproval, somewhat correctly. Once they have a chance to get to know each other a little, she respects him as a leader -- but not as HER leader. Generally she defers to Rikku when dealing with Cid.

Spirans (FFX)

• Belgemine: Yuna's mentor (hasn't quite happened yet, starting at Luca); is a good indicator of how Yuna feels about other summoners generally, which is eager to meet them, friendly bordering on reverential, and more interested in learning from them than being their rival (though she'll rise to the challenge if asked). She's also a fine example of how Yuna treats her elders, which is with great respect. Belgemine comes to truly tutor Yuna in the most effective combat use of aeons, and Yuna is impressed by her prowess and endlessly grateful for her help, while allowing herself to not think too deeply about how she's really obviously Unsent. See also: Maechen.
• Dona: Yuna tries really hard to get along with Dona, but isn't a COMPLETE pushover. It's telling how Dona's criticisms of Yuna as a person she tends to accept gracefully or even dwell deeply upon (maybe too deeply...), but the minute Dona starts being nasty about her friends, Yuna stands up for them. Theirs is a relatively unfriendly rivalry, and since Yuna can't change who her father is, she suspects, sadly, that it may always be. Even then, though, she wishes Dona all the best.
• Isaaru: Yuna's more friendly rival, self-declared -- but Yuna is amiably willing to accept his "challenge" to race to see who gets to kill themselves first. She likes Isaaru and his brothers enough to not want to see how devastated his brothers will be when he dies, so she'd better win.
• Seymour: Yuna's first impression of Seymour Guado is as a Maester, a religious authority figure that she automatically massively respects, but that lasts about THIRTY SECONDS because he starts STARING at her and all of a sudden she's aware of him as a Man in the same way she's only had a head start on being aware of men as Men with Tidus, for like a week. She finds the attention, and obvious attraction, of this socially and mystically powerful man, both flattering and bewildering. She quickly comes to admire his awesomely powerful and not at all creepy aeon, his totally good-hearted and not at all twisted support of Operation Mi'ihen. He's like the ultimate cool youth pastor/world leader. She is not at all prepared for his proposal -- and really not interested in that way. She doesn't want to DATE Seymour... she wants to BE him. If she grew up. Which she's not going to. But, of course, things aren't always about what she wants...

Although he's kind of, sort of, not really, Tidus' romantic rival, Seymour's real role in the story is as Yuna's enemy and foil -- Yuna, through a mirror darkly. They are both children of two worlds, and have both suffered for their controversial parentage. They are both summoners who travel to Zanarkand; one comes to crave power for its own sake while the other is willing to end that power forever, for the good of the world. One decides that Spira's suffering is inevitable and that the only way to relieve it is to destroy it. The other rejects that truism and finds a way to relieve Spira's suffering for good.

Yuna's defiance and rejection of Seymour, over and over, helps define her as a hero.

• Mika: Yuna is pretty willing to believe the Last Will And Testament of Seymour's dad, enough so that she goes to terrible risks to verify and act on the contents of that Sphere, but Grand Maester Mika will break her heart. They hadn't met, but she spent her life venerating him as the wise and wonderful leader of the world. The revelation of his corruption -- and undeath -- rattles Yuna to her core... which she rebuilds, with a new and stronger resolve to fight for Spira, instead of for Yevon.
• Kinoc: Yuna met Maester Kinoc for the first time at Operation Mi'ihen, and did not quite understand Auron's distance from his old friend, but also did not question it. She was suitably impressed, and warmed by Kinoc's decision to support the Crusaders despite the heretical nature of their plan. When Vinsfeld arrived and accused Kinoc of having betrayed his men, she did not believe him, and immediately protected the maester with her life, as would any good Spiran. With the Crusaders having been excommunicated by Yevon in the aftermath, however, she is bewildered at best by this series of events.
• Belize: A member of Maester Seymour's retinue, they first met only briefly at Operation Mi'ihen, but Yuna was deeply impressed by the other summoner's resolve -- and mysterious, powerful aeon. Later, united in their determination to try to prevent a war between Yevon and Althena's Guard, they journeyed together to meet Leo in Kilika, and there Yuna learned to admire the other summoner's anger, and willingness to express it. Her affection for Belize is growing quickly -- as Yuna is wont to do, giving away her heart.
• Gatta: Luzzu was another one of Yuna's big brother figures growing up, and she feared terribly for his safety at Operation Mi'ihen, a fear that turned out to be realized in his death. Gatta declaring revenge on Kinoc and Yevon, and absconding with Vinsfeld to Odessa, has created an entirely new kind of fear within her. She prays that she'll have the opportunity to reach Gatta, and in sharing their grief, ease it for both of them, before the end.
• Shelinda: Yuna is warmly lsupportive of Shelinda's journey as a new priestess, which occurs in parallel to Yuna's as a new summoner. She sees herself in the other girl -- maybe who she would have become, if she hadn't had the ability to commune with the fayth.
• Elma/Lucil/Clasko (The Chocobo Knights): The rank and file of the Crusaders, Yuna treats them all very warmly both before and after Mi'ihen. Yevon's edict excommunicating them means little to her, and does not stop her from providing them with aid, both casual before and critical after, their heretical Operation.
• Rin: The first Al Bhed Yuna comes to know well, who isn't a blood relation. Yuna finds Rin's network of inns both impressive in themselves and a welcome sight on the long pilgrimage road. And she finds his kindness striking -- validation of her long suspicion that Yevon's malignment of the Al Bhed is unfair and baseless.

Spirans (FFX-2)

• Paine: Yuna looks up to Paine as a sphere hunter, and also as a friend, to quote the game she's from. Their relationship could be wildly different if someone apps Paine before X-2 opens, but in a nutshell Yuna tends to admire Paine for her apparent maturity and cool head (and coolness, period), while (usually gently, at least more gently than Rikku) very much wanting to get to know her better. As their adventures proceed together they and Rikku become the best of friends, inseparable hunters of history.
• Gippal: Culture shock! Yuna is uncomfortable with how forward and unmannerly Gippal is, and pushes back when he starts to get too close. Her own formality and Yevonite culture traditionalism can sometimes make her uncomfortable among the extremely casual.
• Nooj: Culture shock! Yuna admires and supports the Crusaders but isn't a soldier herself -- the emotional basis for her determination and self-sacrifice is very different. She finds their leader and hero impressive but not necessarily inspiring; theirs are very different worldviews.
• Baralai: After Sin is gone, Baralai represents the familiar, the safety of the old. Yuna is way past that by then, so although she likes him in a general way, she is uneasy about him and what he represents.

Otherworlders

As a general category, Yuna has felt inspired by the Otherworlders who have come to Spira and proven, through their simple existence, that it is possible to have a world without Sin. They've been helpful and kind, such as when many of them helped free her from the Al Bhed ship during the blitzball tournament. When they further swore to aid Spira against Sin, her hope only blossomed further, and she defended their presence to many suspicious elders who feared that their presence could herald an invasion -- though she did try to express her concerns to these Otherworlders, as best she could, that they would be in terrible danger. With Althena's Guard having declared war on Yevon, the elders may have been right all along, but Yuna is determined to trust them, to believe in them, anyway. To believe in a future they can all make together, hand in hand. She prays that someday, Spira can have the opportunity to help the Otherworlders and their other worlds, the way they have already helped her. She doubts that she'll be around to repay that debt personally, but dreams of having the chance.

• Ghaleon: Yuna had never heard of Ghaleon before he sacrificed himself in Operation Mi'ihen, but apparently he's kind of a big deal -- and was BEFORE that sacrifice, unlike high summoners who only become one after. She honors his memory, along with all the other brave warriors who stood against Sin that day.
• Ida Everstead-Rey: Yuna met Ida for the first time in the Chapterhouse at Luca, in the immediate aftermath of the fiend attack, and found the other girl to be a lovely person -- if someone who seemed to have something more to say, which she couldn't. (In all truth, Yuna runs into this issue often; being surrounded by the loud silence of things that go unsaid is one of the fates of any summoner.) They have met again several times since then, and Ida has continued to prove herself brave and kind.
• Jacqueline Barber: Jacqueline is one of the Drifters who helped rescue Yuna from the Al Bhed, but far more importantly to her, one of the Drifters who helped rescue the chocobos from the Chocobo-Eater on the Mi'ihen Highroad! Yuna owes her many debts, and hopes they can get to know each other better along the roads they both seem born to travel.
• White Knight Leo: Another of Yuna's rescuers, Leo proceeded to be much more important than she initially realized, as he essentially represents another government, army, and religion. Her first impression of him was as a brave, honorable, and serious person; someone to admire. She is alarmed and dismayed by his decision to declare war on Yevon, and deeply concerned for the well-being of Kilika's people, but hopeful that if, perhaps, she could intercede, further tragedy could still be averted. He has since dashed that hope with his determination to wage his holy war -- but his allowing her to perform a Sending for Kilika's latest dead, and allowing her to go in peace, has at least left the door open in her heart for the possibility that someday they can reach a true understanding of each other, and each other's faiths.
• Leon Albus and Lily Keil: Mercenaries who arrived in the aftermath of Operation Mi'ihen, apparently they already knew some of her Guardians. And any friends of her Guardians are friends of hers, as far as she's concerned!
• Lunata Croze: An Otherworlder who somehow immediately became part of Maester Seymour's retinue, Lunata appears to be another impressive person in all respects, both on and off the battlefield. Yuna is glad that he's surrounded by so many good people, in much the way she is herself.
• Marivel Armitage: Perhaps the truest Otherworld friend Yuna has made so far apart from Tidus (who is kind of in a category of his own, though time will tell how tragically true that really, really is). Marivel and Yuna have fought alongside one another several times now, but far more significant, at least to Yuna, are the woman's feelings about duty and sacrifice. Yuna greatly admires Marivel's singing voice.
• Vinsfeld Rhadamanthus: The first person to say out loud in Yuna's earshot that Yevon's actions surrounding Operation Mi'ihen stink to high heaven; he may have planted a seed more deeply than he realized, considering that she immediately stood against his attempted murder of Maester Kinoc. She is worried about Gatta's choice to follow this person into parts unknown.

Aeons

Valefor: Of the fayth, Yuna is closest to Valefor's both because they have been together the longest and because they are the most similar; two young girls willing to make the ultimate sacrifice to save Spira, who grew up in Besaid. They are fast friends and becoming faster all the time, continuing to share themselves with each other through the bond of their spirits in their aeon. Valefor is almost like Yuna's first child, and incredibly precious to her. Yuna sometimes summons Valefor a little frivolously, just to give the fayth the opportunity to have corporeal form, and to let the two of them hang out.

Valefor is mostly a grand birdmonster, but there's something feline to her also, and something human. She's the smallest of Yuna's aeons but that's still REAL BIG -- big enough that Yuna can fly through the sky with her, and probably take a modest number of other riders as well. She is faster than she is tough, extremely agile in the sky. She is also deadly strong with those snatchy claws, wing sideswipes, sharp beak and body slams, but her true strength lies in sorcery.

Like Lulu, Valefor is a prodigy in all four primary black magic elements, and casts progressively more powerful spells with incredible deadliness. Also like Lulu, she has some ultimate attacks which are non-elemental magic; Energy Ray and, even moreso, Energy Blast, are -- and, linked as they are to the strength of Yuna's own magic, will continue to become -- truly spectacular, battle-shaking abilities. Valefor's most frustrating ability, though, is her ability to slam her wings together in midair, creating a sonic projectile that rushes forward to push back, slow, and disorient her foes. Delay attacks are the worst, and all should learn to hate Sonic Wings.

Personality-wise, Valefor is a little bit of a troll in combat (see again: Sonic Wings, and targeting elemental weaknesses of her foes) who exudes cleverness, grace, and a surprising gentleness, even at her fiercest. She smells like peaches, from the island her fayth loves.

Ifrit: Yuna and Ifrit's fayth have spent less time together, and are less instantly and perfectly compatible. He's more into military discipline than she is; she's more into Yevon than he is. They are united, of course, in their willingness to die to defeat Sin, and are also gradually discovering more common ground. For example, Ifrit's fayth really likes spicy food and is encouraging Yuna to be more adventurous with her eating choices so that he can live vicariously through her.

Ifrit is a Big Boy; whenever he comes to Spira, he shatters the ground on his way out, and has to catch Yuna in midair! And set her on his shoulder, for safe keeping. Fire is his element -- so much so that he can heal himself by casting fire-type black magic with himself as the target! -- but he has a strongly earthy feel to him as well... volcanic, like Kilika Island. He likes to tear chunks of earth out of the ground, turn them into molten slag, then chuck or even punch them them at people, which is actually more technique than sorcery; he uses magic to make the fire, but the hammer-throw is all him. He is the opposite of Valefor defensively, tough instead of fast, though he's a surprisingly agile meleeist, flipping all over the place, fists and claws and horns everywhere. In keeping with the fire that flows through his veins, and the laws of Spiran magic, ice magic is his bane. He knows a spell to defend himself from it, but it isn't always enough.

In terms of attitude, Ifrit is sweet to Yuna but ferociously aggressive to his enemies; right on the edge of being a berserker, but just a hair on the side of control. He smells like fire and brimstone, like the beating heart of the world.

Ixion: Ixion's fayth is a fisherman -- an ordinary Spiran who loves his world and its people. Like Valefor's, but not with the perspective of a child (and unlike Ifrit's, who is, fundamentally, a soldier rather than a civilian). If there was any lingering question of Yuna's adulthood, Operation Mi'ihen has banished it completely. Yuna has emerged from Operation Mi'ihen both deeply traumatized by the many lives she couldn't save, and more profoundly and urgently committed than ever to her chosen path of self-destruction (what includes embodying hope with an ever-brighter fake smile and positive attitude, and also her fair share of flashbacks and nightmares). She and Ixion's fayth do well together. Besides their maturity, their intensity of purpose is one.

Ixion is a massive ki-rin, a somewhat exoskeletal, somewhat ethereal, HIGHLY electromagnetic unicorn. Despite being a mighty beast, virtually all of his attacks are magical; he is the heart of the storm, and he expresses himself through lightning, through thunder, and through the thoroughly rude manipulation of magnetism, which slows his enemies while enhancing his own speed. Fighting Ixion has an alarming tendency to involve him getting three or four attacks to every one of his opponent's. He can also crush his enemies beneath his hooves or skewer them with his horn, but... it tends to be that their thundrous approach, or the lightning gathered at its tip, respectively, gets to his enemies first.

Ixion's intensity of being extends to his personality; he is, above all other things, focused. A very serious and earnest presence. Secretly, Ixion likes giving people rides, born out of a quiet affection, a yearning for closeness quite at odds with his being shocking to the touch. To ride the storm is a great honor, and an unforgettable experience. He smells like burning ozone. (This is not a coincidence.)

Personality

Yuna's defining trait is empathy; feeling other peoples' feelings as her own is part of what makes her such a powerful summoner, but more importantly, a caring person and good friend. From this root bloom many flowers of who she is -- it's why she's unable to turn away from anyone who comes to her needing help, and why she's so driven to give hope to the hopeless in not just any way she can, but EVERY way she can.

Add to this her deeply internalized feelings of worthlessness, from a childhood that despised her heritage and celebrated the grief of her father's sacrifice, and you have an equation that leads a young girl of seventeen to really, truly believe with all her heart that the best way for her to live her life is to die.

It doesn't help that she's so terribly indoctrinated in the ways of Yevon, which, in its way, venerates and glorifies death while explaining suffering as just punishment for wrongdoing, and which has gone a step further to convince Yuna that her talents as a healer and summoner are simply an expression of His will and His grace rather than any of her own goodness. That's only ever gone so far with Yuna, though. She may be breathlessly pious about the blessings of Yevon, devoutly performing the Yevonite prayer at every opportunity, deeply respectful of their traditions and leaders, and reverential of the tenets of their faith -- but from the very beginning of her journey, it is Spira, not Yevon, that she serves. Spira and its people -- and its fayth, who she cares for as dearly as anyone. More.

She gives her herself away so easily. Her heart, the easiest of all.

Her adventures will eventually teach her that she believes in something greater than Yevon, too -- she believes in Spira, and in a future for Spira without Sin. That begins with supporting the Crusaders at Mi'ihen; staying to heal their wounded and Send their fallen afterwards, when the other summoners simply continue on their pilgrimages. It ends in her becoming an apostate when she destroys the tradition of the Final Summoning for good.

But she does believe in Yevon, for now; she believes that summoners carry the weight of Spira's sorrows and sins with them on their journey, and that to die for those sins is to atone for them, a necessary requirement for that brighter future when Sin stops coming back. She believes that the Final Summoning is the only way to defeat Sin, and that if she isn't the one to do it, that only means that someone else must in her place. She believes in the past; has a certain reverential approach to her father, and everything about HIS pilgrimage. She believes that the Maesters are Yevon's authority on Spira, and good, strong, wise leaders.

Poor Yuna. She's going to be so disappointed by awful truths, devastated again and again. Good thing she's a tough little cookie. Yuna gets up -- Yuna keeps going.

Living her life in accordance with these beliefs, Yuna is honest, loyal, and true. Honorable, in a way that feels old-fashioned. She enjoys a clear-eyed dignity, a resolve -- still mostly untested -- far beyond her years. She tends to speak softly but very deliberately, choosing her words with care. All of this applies to those who name themselves her enemy as well as her friends; 'politely resolved opposition' tends to be her stance, when challenged, even if it's a challenge to the death (um, sorry Seymour). Her attentiveness to the people who like to shower her with attention, her kindness to them, is not an act; she feels that she owes tremendous gratitude to the peoples of Spira. But the smiling and cheerfulness often is.

It isn't always. Yuna can be genuinely merry and playful, especially before Mi'ihen (and then again, after Sin and some time to grieve). She finds excuses to laugh, especially at herself, and knows well the value of happiness, of joy, in a life whose days are numbered. She's excited to see new places and try new things, even if it will only be once and never again. She loves blitzball and has a summoner's nuanced appreciation for how it, too, gives Spirans something to cheer for in troubled times.

Sometimes it's not so easy, though.

Yuna is hyperaware of how, as a summoner, she must behave in a manner that engenders hope for Spirans. She keeps her problems to herself -- sometimes hiding them even from her closest friends and family. No one is immune; the more serious the situation, the more likely she is to play her cards closely to her chest, to protect others from being drawn into her troubles. At her core, too, lies the tiniest bit of distrust... a still small voice that is afraid that if she's anything less than perfect, she'll be abandoned -- and then alone.

She doesn't WANT to die; she's just willing to, for a strong reason and the highest cause, the greater good. (The culmination of X-2 is when she stops being willing to go along with sacrifice plays at all and DEMANDS BETTER, then makes it happen. "Your plan sucks," Yuna declares to Mr. Self-Sacrifice. "Let's do something else.") But because this has been her goal for most of her childhood, she really has little basis for a lot of normal teenage behavior and can be quite awkward when making small talk with her peers, of which she had few as a kid (everyone was older or younger). Her unwillingness to lie can have her dying on some weird conversational hills (Zanarkand...), and she's often serious to a fault, as Auron later puts it.

Finally, Yuna has an extraordinary memory. She remembers the names of everyone she meets, even years later. Perhaps it's the effect of her shared soul -- the aeons within her, and their lifetimes merged with hers. Perhaps it's just a quirk of her mind. Either way -- she never forgets, so it's a good thing that she's so willing to forgive.

Gallery

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  Concept art

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  Concept art of Yuna's Sending

Soundtrack

FFX Theme - To Zanarkand
Yuna's Theme - Suteki Da Ne Rearrangement My heart was swimming In words gathered by the wind My voice bounded Into a cloud-carried tomorrow My heart trembled In the moon-swayed mirror Soft tears Spilled with a stream of stars	Valefor's Theme - Wings Oh lights go down In the moment we're lost and found I just wanna be by your side If these wings could fly For the rest of our lives	Ifrit's Theme - Hope On Fire gotta fight gotta strike cause there's no turning away from what you don't want to know gotta see gotta be if they're all going astray don't let them take you in tow you're a one-man shift in the weather you're the woman who just won't sell climbing up and ringing the bell ooh you're gonna make your mark this time ooh you're gonna set your hope on fire
Ixion's Theme - Thunderstruck Thunder, thunder, thunder, thunder I was caught In the middle of a railroad track I looked round And I knew there was no turning back My mind raced And I thought what could I do And I knew There was no help, no help from you