"As it is a summoner's duty to protect the people of Spira, so it is mine as a humble priest to offer aid and succor to the extent that I can. Think nothing of it. And if you wish, you may claim any of the rooms in the temple for sleep; all of the unlocked ones should be clean and fit for a weary traveler."

"You know, I might take you up on that. I think—"

But before he can hurt himself further by trying to think the priest looks up in the direction of the door, and at the edge of Azym's hearing he too notices the vague echoes of loud conversation, probably coming from the temple's main chamber.

"I think that might be our young summoner," is what he says instead. Not that he's been told Zei's age, but he has a hunch...

It is, indeed, the young summoner, a boy about the same age as Azym's standing in the middle of a small group of people when he and the priest return to the temple's main chamber. He seems to have come from the imposing double doors atop the imposing stairs, confirming Azym's guess that that's where the chamber of the fayth would be, and he looks...

...happy.

He's trying to not let his exhaustion show, but the way he's leaning on a tall blue humanoid lion-person for support reveals it anyway. To his other side is a black-haired woman wearing a fluffy black dress that not only defies gravity but also any conventional wisdom about the number of belts people are meant to wear, or what they're meant to be attached to. They hadn't been in the room before, so probably they were with Zei while he prayed or whatever it is they do.

Zei himself seems to break the convention of dress of the priests Azym's seen in the temple—although it's not like anyone had said the long body-covering robes with strange symbols were an actual uniform or anything—but he nevertheless seems to follow a similar fashion tradition, if much more elaborate and ceremonial-looking. His arms are covered from the biceps down by an intricate spiralling armwrap that ends in half gloves encrusted with small gems, and his legs and feet are adorned by sandals in a similar style. He's wearing a white and dark blue skirt that goes almost all the way to his knees, and his torso is bare except for a series of silver necklaces that grow in diameter until the largest one reaches the middle of his chest. He also seems to be wearing a cloth harness of some sort with a long metal staff attached to its back, a staff that somehow communicates both "weapon" and "ceremonial tool".

The boy seems to be in the middle of being congratulated by everyone, and while it's clear (at least to Azym) that he'd much rather take a minute or two to himself he's weathering the attention with dignity. His gaze moves over to Azym and Kahli when he hears the steps, and it stops on Azym for long enough to register the confusion at the new face before returning to the well-wishers.

Okay but most important of all—okay, this is not actually most important of all, but still—the three of them are really fucking hot. He's not sure which of them is hottest, the woman whose dress is somehow made indecent by how little of her boobs it covers and with the airs of someone who could set you on fire with a look, the lion dude over a head taller than Azym himself (who is pretty tall for a human, not that that sentence had ever had cause to be produced in his brain before) and who's awakening furry thoughts Azym never had before, or the quiet fit boy who nevertheless is probably the protagonist and also looks like a being of power somehow. It's probably the lion dude? Just for sheer novelty. Azym is finding himself very very curious about what he looks like without the loincloth.

He's glad he's in the back of the crowd so that he can very unobtrusively cover his dick with his hands in something he hopes looks just casual and not like he's trying to keep an erection down.

Lion dude expressionlessly stands there, arms folded in a stoic body guard stance, looking like he's ready to skewer anyone with the lance attached to his back if they push their luck.

(Which does not help.)

The summoner talks to the people around him a bit more, and beyond the congratulations the conversation moves to people wanting to see his new aeon. Eventually he agrees, and starts moving out of the building in quick strides.

"Come," says the priest, "maybe seeing a summoner in action will help you remember."

He somehow doesn't think so.

They follow after the group and eventually get to the plaza, the center of which seems to have been cleared of everyone except for the summoner himself.

The ground and the air start glowing around him, then. Faintly at first, but quickly growing bright enough to illuminate the surroundings entirely. The staff that had been attached to the harness at his back is held in his right hand, and he extends his arms to the sides, the right arm tilted diagonally up at the sky and the left arm down at the floor.

Four mystical symbols appear in the light, rotating around Zei and emiting more light, going 'round once, then twice, before stopping and sending four flashes of light into the heavens. They spiral towards each other, and when they meet, they join into a single bright source of light which takes the form of... a bird?

Not quite. The creature flies down from the light, wings hugged close to its body for extra momentum, before it extends them so it can glide and land heavily in front of Zei, the wind nearly pushing the summoner off his feet. It is twice as tall as he is, but it leans down forward until its eyes are level with his.

Zei manages to keep his composure, but by the way his fingers fidget and the corners of his lips twitch trying to become a smile it's clear he's very excited. He takes a step closer to the aeon and reaches up, slowly and tentatively at first, but more courageously when the creature leans closer, and pets the side of its neck.

"Valefor," says the priest, joining the rest of the crowd in applauding the display. "She's the aeon of the temple of Besaid. Lord Zei will be able to call upon her until the day he dies; their bond is eternal."

Azym has managed to control himself by then, and his emotions have been almost entirely replaced by pure awe. It's one thing to have a small sphere made of magic water go into him and drive the cold away, and it's a whole 'nother to see something like—like that. It's genuinely a genre shift, it's the kind of magic you can't help but be impressed by.

He really, really is not in Zanarkand anymore. He doesn't let the feelings bubble up to his head this time, but... this is somewhere else. Another world.

The woman that had accompanied Zei inside the temple walks up to him, followed by... Wakka, apparently.

Zei turns around to look at the two of them, and smiles widely. "I did it," Azym can hear him say. "I'm a summoner." And he lets his joy show, now, as he hugs Lulu and the rest of the crowd comes closer again to offer more congratulations.

At a minute nod from Zei, Valefor straightens up and jumps into the air, flying away to who knows where.

Azym feels like...

...like he should take people up on their offers and maybe go sleep and then, uh, try to be less of the local naked cryptid who's just kind of following other people around. Although, well, this story is shaping up to be one where he's gonna follow Zei around, but he can get to that part later.

He quietly slips away from the crowd.

He takes a short nap, then decides to check whether his currency is acceptable. It does turn out to be such, so he gets himself a permanent warming spell (and a permanent cooling spell which also protects against sunburn), a leather harness he can attach his sword to (they couldn't find a scabbard that would fit the sword's peculiar shape), a pair of sandals, and something that looks sort of like a combination of a skirt and a loincloth in a local style, blue on the sides and black on the front with bronze medals sewn onto the skirt itself and hanging from its edge. It goes down to his knees, loose and light enough that it doesn't really interfere with movement, which is fairly relevant—if he doesn't miss his guess there's going to be a lot of physical fighting here. It's different from his usual style, but you know, what are the odds he'd find exactly the same kind of thing he used to wear back in Zanarkand? And he can get used to this.

The shopkeep gave him an odd look when he asked for other possible stuff to wear, and that was how he found out that they have cheap and easy laundry magic so most people have One Outfit that they always wear, which strikes him as pretty damn odd but he supposes if laundry is cheaper and faster than actually making clothes by enough this makes any amount of sense. Another world, and all that. He supposes his style will henceforth be This Here Skirt And Sandals.

And now he... doesn't really know what to do next. The trek back to the beach is not so short that he can go and do anything there and then return, because it'll be sundown soonish and he has a mighty suspicion that these people who have no electricity are going to want to leave for their boat trip at dawn. Also he doesn't actually know the way back; he could follow the river and it would probably eventually lead him to the ocean but he didn't pay enough attention to remember whether there were any rivers close to the beach, and he might end up stranded who knows where. So he has a couple of hours to kill until he has to sleep again.

Maybe he could go look for the protagonist, get to know him before the actual boat trip. That sounds like a reasonable idea.

After asking around, no one knows for sure where Zei is but a reasonable guess is the nearby lake; he's known to enjoy going there to relax, and Yevon knows he needs some relaxation after getting his first aeon. Azym gets directions and sets off.

The lake is right next to a hill, with waterfalls at one end and a small outlet at the other serving as the water's renewal valves. Azym was told that this was one of a handful of small streams that feed into the larger river he swam in earlier.

And as luck would have it, Zei is indeed there. His clothes and staff are on a rock a few feet away from the waterfall so that the water doesn't hit them, and the summoner himself is sitting cross-legged under the waterfall, his body half submerged and his eyes closed. It's not clear whether he's sleeping or just resting, but he sure does look much more relaxed than he did around the crowd from earlier.

Azym finds a nice tree to lean against and watches Zei. He's not sure if this is rude but waking the boy up in case he's sleeping definitely would be, and he doesn't really have any excuses that aren't bothersome for why he's here.

After a couple of minutes of this Zei's lips quiver into a smile. "You gonna just stand there all evening? A boy will start to question your intentions that way," he calls without opening his eyes.