Zei grins again and shakes his head, but then lowers his gaze to Oni-Goroshi. "What you two said earlier—I don't think people quite consider Yevon to be a god. Or not exactly. It's not a word used for it."

"...huh. What is it, then? Just a philosophy?"

"Mmm," says Zei, tilting his head from side to side. "There was a person named Yevon, back in Yunalesca's time, and it is his teachings that she shared. But we don't exactly revere him, except insofar as he is metonymous with some concepts. Diligence, self-restraint, agape, hard work, the joy in small things." That last one is a single word, in Spiran. "But people do shorthand it... We say 'praise be to Yevon' to express gratitude for good fortune, or, or 'Yevon be with you' to wish someone success in hard endeavours." He tilts his head from side to side again. "It's fuzzy."

"I suppose that makes sense. Thanks for explaining."

The rest of their journey to the steps of the temple is relatively uneventful. A few small fiends attack them, naturally, including a couple of fiends that look like peculiar flying rock formations which Zei explains tend to form after or around elementally charged situations (in this case, he speculates this fiend formed while a thunderstorm was happening).

They're easy enough to deal with, though, and eventually the party gets to the stairs up to the temple: some fifteen to twenty flights of them, all the way up the tallest hill on the island where the temple proper sits.

"Damn," Zei says, looking all the way up and shielding his eyes from the sun. "Don't suppose you guys want to take our lunch break now?"

"It'll be way harder to get there with a full stomach and you know it."

    "Hey, hey," says Letty. "Fancy a race up?"

"You realise Lord Mi'ihen used to go up and down these steps to train stamina, right? No, I do not fancy a race."

"I'd race you," Edmund says, "but I think my sword would cheat. She's... surprisingly competitive."

"Your sword?" says Letty. "It doesn't have legs!"

"Well, she's the one who makes me catch fire and move like lightning. And she's never really grasped the concept of a competition where you don't use every possible advantage."

    "—wait, that's not fair!" protests Letty.

        "What, and you think racing the summoner would've been?" wonders Datto.

    "...let's just run," he grumbles, stretching his legs to get ready.

The other team members, Wakka included, seem to all be keen to run, too.

Lulu just sighs in quiet exasperation.

"I did say she'd cheat!"

Stretching: a good idea. Edmund does some quick standing stretches.

Zei rolls his eyes, too, but walks over to the bottom of the steps and extends a hand to serve as an impromptu flag. "On your marks, then."

The Aurochs all take position side by side.

Edmund leans against a pillar.

"Ready, set... go!" And as soon as he lifts his arm it's game on, and all of the bliztballers start running up the steps at the same time. Zei shakes his head again and smiles at the rest of his companions. "Shall we go up at a more reasonable, sedate pace instead?"

"I think that sounds very reasonable."

"Mmhm."

Up they go. Up an actually really unreasonable number of steps.

Edmund climbs without complaint.

As do the others.

All of the Aurochs are waiting for them at the top of the steps, all in variously collapsed states on the floor. Wakka seems to be the one who has suffered the least, and the smug look on his face indicates he probably won.

The temple itself is an imposing stone structure with archs and pillars, looking like a temple does when it's several centuries old but has been taken good enough care of. But the most striking features of the temple are the flames: a multitude of torches decorate it, lit even in the middle of the day, plus a myriad green glass spheres of many sizes with magic fire inside them, flickering with unfelt winds. Some people are milling about, talking to each other or sitting on stone benches or kneeling in front of a flame in what looks like prayer.

And they can also hear, very faintly, a song, coming from deep within the temple itself. It's the same song Edmund heard when Zei was performing the Sending, but rather than a chorus it is a single voice that sings it, a deep bass of a voice repeating the non-words with no stop.

"Is this some sort of temple to flame?" Oni-Goroshi asks with some interest. "I can appreciate this."

"This hill used to be a volcano," explains Lulu, folding her arms and watching Letty try to recover from a stich in his side with an amused smirk. "When Ifrit became fayth, he empowered himself with the surrounding magic. The volcano no longer erupts, and summoners can partake in Ifrit's gift of fire."

"Fascinating," the blade murmurs.