"Thank you very much."

"You must not let that get to you," he says on the way, having noticed Azym's confusion. "Summoners... have many responsibilities. Some of them like to be a bit of a spectacle, too. Give the people hope; give the people safety; give the people joy. I'm sure Lady Dona meant nothing by it."

...oh that makes sense. They become entertainment, too, sort of impromptu actors. And Azym bets there's even a little bit of selfishness to it, too, of putting on this character so that they don't have to be themselves, vulnerable, open to the world. If they're playing a character they can distance themselves a little bit from the horrors they are constantly called to witness.

"I understand. ...do guardians have any responsibilities, there, in this masquerade?"

"Are you planning to become one?"

"If Zei will have me. I do not have plans to do anything other than help defeat Sin."

"There are many other ways to help defeat Sin. Joining the Crusaders, or the priesthood, for example."

He shakes his head. "I understand what it means to be a guardian, and it is what I want. I want to be there with Zei and see him through it."

"Very well. You seem to have given this some thought. To answer your question, guardians are—support characters, in a manner of speaking, to the main actors of the so-called play. What this means is personal to them, and just as some summoners choose not to participate in the spectacle so too do some guardians opt to abstain. There is not, you understand, a set of rules you must follow. Your relationship with your summoner, and your summoner's relationship with the world, are your and their own. You will forge your own individual paths."

"That we will."

When they get to the guest bedroom Azym gestures at the door. "Place your hand on it so I can key your soul to it so only you can open it."

...fantasy setting. Right. He does as instructed.

The priest touches the door, too, closer to the handle, and it glows warmly for a second. "It should be done."

"Thank you, Father." Pause. "Now what, uh, else is there to be done, here?"

"...at the temple? Prayer, mostly. We have a library, too." What an odd person.

Prayer. Okay.

"Thank you, Father," he repeats. But actually what he's going to do is find the blitzballers.

Sure, they can be found. They're no longer praying for victory and are instead in the kitchen/cafeteria finishing up their lunch.

"Excellent, you're all here. Half an hour to rest up and then we're going to go practise."

"...now?"

"No, in half an hour, I just said. Wouldn't want you guys having indigestion. You had a nice warmup this morning climbing the stairs so it is time to actually get to blitzing."

"You're more sadistic than Wakka."

"Sure am! Enjoy your break."

They spend the rest of the afternoon going through the practice Azym had planned for them to do on the boat yesterday, and actually Botta gets to teach Azym some things, magical techniques that are allowed in blitzball. The players find it kind of bizarre that he doesn't know that so he just states flat out that he is not going to tell them why he doesn't and they shouldn't ask and that works well enough.

He won't be able to make a tournament-winning team out of these people in a week but hopefully they'll be good enough to not suck.

Zei finishes the communion with the fayth in the middle of the night and dithers a bit then decides to ask for directions to Azym's room.

Azym is extremely unused to being woken up in the middle of the night and says a very confused "Bwuh?" when he opens the door to his guest bedroom after Zei's knocked.

"Hi. Can I sleep with you? It's fine if not."