#i'm not even sure lyte herself intended for them to become friends when they did

[sezja]

FLUFF-uary 2025 Day 1: First Meeting

Fandom: Final Fantasy XIV Relationship: OC & OC (Tajna Ratyasch & Lytora Envers) (Particularly for @morocosmos, who once requested a glimpse into Lyte and Tajna's shared childhoods.)

She snuck out.

She snuck out!

Hunkering deeper into the fuzzy collar of her coat, Tajna creeps cautiously around the corner of the house, scarcely daring even to breathe. Every little sound - a bird chirping overhead, the wind rustling the grass, even the distant muttering of voices - makes her jump; each noise threatens to send her scurrying back to the safety of her bedroom.

If her grandmother finds out she's snuck out - when she's meant to be napping... ohhhh, she'll be grounded for weeks.

But no one would ever dare imagine that shy, flinching Tajna would ever break the rules; no, she's a good girl. All her tutors say so, and so do her parents, and yes, even her grandmother, strict as she is. No one would ever dream Tajna might be capable of disobedience. No one will even think to check in on her, to make sure she's sound asleep in her bed...

But no.

No, she's creeping her way along the walkways that wind through her neighborhood, trying to - all at once! - avoid being seen, remember where she's going, and look casual while she's at it.

She's got a secret.

It's not a very big secret, of course. Not the kind of secret that would, on its own, get her in trouble. Probably. Maybe. She's not testing it, and that - that little act of rebellion, not reporting what she's doing to her parents - lights a little fire of exhilaration in her core. Maybe she feels brave, a little. Maybe she likes feeling brave. A little.

Heart thumping against her ribs every step of the way, she at last reaches her destination: a little house at the far end of her street, nestled in among some sleepy trees. She knows the man who lives there is a retired gleaner - his wife was a professor at the Studium, and their daughter is one of Tajna's tutors, specializing in botany. Plants. Flowers. Her studies are rudimentary - she's only seven years old, after all - but she does like to flip through her tutor's books, gazing with quiet delight at the diagrams of the various plants and trees from around the world... or at least Eorzea, where the bulk of the research was done, evidently.

Eorzea. Her parents say the word like it's some faraway fantasy land; as though Tajna herself wasn't born in the Dravanian colony just across the way.

Her tutor has been to Eorzea, though.

Tajna's secret is a greenhouse: a glass haven where it's springtime year-round, stocked full of plants from distant Eorzea. Lilies from the depths of the Shroud, roses from the gardens of wealthy Ul'dah monetarists. Bellflowers from La Noscea. Some of them even came from floating islands in the sky, gifts from Ishgardians. Tajna doesn't even know what any of those places are, not really, but her tutor does, and she tells the most wonderful stories...

It tugs at her, a little. A little pull under her heart; a little whisper she can't quite hear just yet.

She settles into the grass just outside the greenhouse, just as she has the last few times she's dared to attempt this escape. She'd worn her boy clothes again today - they almost don't fit anymore, but she hadn't wanted to explain grass stains on the knees of her skirts, and she's grateful for it now; the ground is a little muddy. If her tutor was home, she could've just knocked at the greenhouse door and been let in-

"What are you looking at?"

The voice startles Tajna so badly, she yelps, biting her tongue in the process. No! She couldn't have been seen, she couldn't have been caught-

It's a girl.

A little hyuran girl, more or less her own age, with dark blue-violet hair pinned up in a neat braid, and eyes the color of stormclouds, standing there with her hands fisted at her hips. Tajna's mouth goes dry: she knows this girl, sort of. One of the bossy, brassy, popular girls, always with a gaggle of friends surrounding her... but she's alone for the moment. Or at least she seems to be. Who knows how many other girls might be lurking in the shadows, ready to mock Tajna for being quiet and odd...

"F... flowers," she manages, after too long a pause. She'd hoped the girl might wander off, bored.

Instead, much to Tajna's dismay, the interloper delicately pads her way over across the grass, lifting the hem of her long skirt ever-so-slightly. She stands a moment by the hrothgar's side, peering through the misty glass. Tajna feels cold all over, and it owes nothing to the chilly Sharlayan air: this girl could ruin everything! If she tattles, if she decides to mock and tease, if she just... just knows about Tajna's secret, then-

"Flowers," the girl repeats, a little bemused. "So there are. I wonder how they keep them from freezing?"

"It... it's a greenhouse..."

"Yes, but," the girl gestures impatiently at the air around them. "Is it kept warm with fire shards, do you know? Or magic?"

"I..." She shakes her head, feeling stupid. "I don't know. I just... I just like to look at the f-flowers."

The girl looks at her then, really looks at her, looking a touch surprised - as though it only just occurred to her that Tajna was there. She blinks. And then she grins, a little dimple appearing at the corner of her lips.

"And so you should," she declares. "They're lovely, aren't they?" And then, heedless of grass stains or mud or even Tajna's flinch, the girl takes herself a seat at the other girl's side, and together they gaze at the flowers in amiable silence.

And just like that - whether she likes it or not - Tajna has a best friend.