Tale of Moon and Sun

“He outside my caste… and I’m nothing to him.”

Gippal started searching through the crowd, looking for the beautiful jeweler, his eye widened in panic. The sultan’s announcement had caused a great uproar, and the young prince found himself being dragged deeper into the merriment that Gippal wanted nothing to do with.

“Baralai! Has anyone seen Baralai?” called the tall blonde, his gaze sweeping the crowd frantically. Gippal wanted to find Baralai, tell him that his father was drunk and that he would talk Shiido out of the marriage. However, all Gippal saw of Baralai was a last fleeting glimpse of the youth’s soft white hair before he disappeared out of the celebration and out of Gippal’s sight.

Two weeks passed with an air of excited anxiety. Gippal was kept in Braska’s Bevelle palace as wedding preparations were being made all across the city. To further the Al Bhed’s tension, Baralai had requested to take his leave of the king’s palace and returned to his old home deep in the capital’s poor section of the city… where few knew where he could be. There, the jeweler worked diligently, crafting – with tears in his eyes – the royal wedding rings as specially ordered by Braska himself.

Gippal remained in his chamber in silence, only sending out servants to retrieve food and drink for their master, hardly saying a word to anyone but his family. Shiido refused to give into Gippal’s begging and never breathed a word of his son’s preferences to Braska, letting the Bevelle monarch believe there was no problems, only that perhaps Gippal was ill.


The Al Bhed prince leaned over the balcony railing of his uncle’s guest chamber three days into the third week of wedding preparations. The air of happiness for his forced marriage was making him feeling ill and frustrated – no remedy or distraction, not even physical pleasures took the prince’s mind off his lost beauty. After the third harem boy was angrily shoved out into the hallway for doing nothing more than making an attempt at his duties to the Al Bhed family, Gippal found himself with perhaps the only guest in his bedroom who could offer him comfort – his baby sister, Princess Rikku.

The teenage princess made her presence known by sneaking into her brother’s room and climbing onto his back while he leaned over the railing, covering his eye with one hand.

“Guess who, big brother!” she announced merrily.

Gippal smiled faintly and hooked his arms behind his back, catching his sister in strong arms. “Rikku, what brings you here tonight? I thought you were with Yuna.” Gippal carted the young princess to his bed and let her fall onto it before he sat beside her.

“Well, Yunie and I are worried about you, you big jerk. We know you don’t want to marry Yunie.” Her words were met with a solemn nod from her brother.

“I don’t. I love Yuna as my cousin, but I don’t love her like that. My tastes run… somewhere else…” muttered the woeful royal, putting his palms against his eyes. Rikku stroked her brother’s naked back and playfully pulled at his belt.

“Yunie an’ I guessed that. Your tastes are… well, poor, right?” The princess giggled at her brother’s annoyed glare at her choice of words. “I mean you want some one, soft, beeee-yuuuu-tiful, kind, and sweet? Well, I know Yunie is all of those things but there’s someone else you had in mind…”

“Yes. The jeweler who saved her life,” spoke Gippal flatly, unabashed with his honesty toward his younger sister.

“HA! I knew it! You like Baralai! Or… dare I say it?” Rikku leapt into stance on Gippal’s bed, her small fists raised over her head. “Gippal’s in looooooooooove!”

Gippal’s face reddened as he tackled his young sibling, pinning her under his weight on the mattress. “Yeah, maybe… but Father…”

“Pop is an old fart and you know it. He’s still steamed about the time you were caught with the head of the guard.” Rikku giggled and wormed out of her brother’s grip. “You should see Baralai.”

“How? He went home. Vanished. Gone,” snapped Gippal, taking a deep breath and sitting up. “OW!”

Rikku’s hand fell at her side after slapping her big brother upside his head. “You aren’t think-ing, as always… Yunie can find out where he is from Uncle Brassy. Meanwhile, you work up what to say to him at the Eclipse celebration tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow? Wha- Wait…” Gippal’s eye blinked quickly, and his mouth went slack. The Eclipse celebration was being held in honor and awe of the crossing of Solis and Lunaris. “How long have you two been planning this?!”

Rikku giggled and hugged her brother’s shoulders lovingly. “Since the announcement to marry Yunie. Yunie loves you too, but she’s got her own Prince Charming in mind, and it ain’t you.”

“Isn’t. You talk like a commoner, Rikku.” Gippal’s smile returned to his lips, glad that someone understood and that someone was going to help him see Baralai again.

The princess giggled and pushed her big brother’s shoulders. “And you’re in love with one, so shut up already! Yunie’s going to see him, then you two can sneak off for looooooooooove while everyone else is watching the eclipse,” Rikku bounced up and snatched the gifted shell pendant off the room’s vanity and hung it around Gippal’s neck. “I think Solis and Lunaris would understand, sun boy.”

“I can’t thank you enough Rikku.” Gippal stood and embraced his little sister adoringly.

“Hey, I love ya that much.”

Meanwhile, across the city, Princess Yuna was carrying out her half of the covert plan in peasant’s guise, sneaking into the poverty district with Yaibal and Clasko as her guards in place of the obvious Kimahri Ronso. Faking interest in viewing the wedding rings, Yuna had gathered Baralai’s whereabouts from her father with simplistic ease.

“Come in, the shop is open,” called a sober Baralai from inside his shop-house at Yuna’s knocking. Clasko and Yaibal kept watch outside as the princess slipped in.

“I hear you are the best artisan in all of Bevelle… is this true?” asked Yuna, hidden from Baralai by way of a hooded cloak.

The shopkeeper came forward, his clothing returned to simple, coarse togas and sandals, drying his hands on a leather apron that wrapped his waist. “I’m not sure who you heard that from, m’lady, but I’m a simple jeweler. I just do my best in my craft. What… is so funny?”

Yuna was giggling under her hood, having spotted Gippal’s ring on a leather cord around Baralai’s slender neck. “I think you’re the best, Baralai,” replied the hidden princess, pulling back her hood, causing Baralai to immediately drop to his knees.

“My lady! Had I known it was you…” he began, fumbling for an apology. Yuna cut him off by stopping at his side.

“Get up, Baralai, I’m not Princess Yuna here. Just Yuna. My cousin Rikku and I have learned a few interesting things about you and Prince Gippal.” As she spoke, Baralai pulled up his work stool for Yuna to sit on, but she declined the hospitality with a smile. “I don’t plan on being here long, Baralai. You see, Gippal’s been sick since the celebration of Bevelle’s prosperity.”

“He… has?” Baralai’s hand immediately went to the gold ring at his throat’s collar, brushing the precious metal item with gentle strokes. “Will he get better?” That question alone made Yuna smile.

“He will, but you’ll have to come to the Eclipse celebration at the palace to find out. He won’t leave his room… or eat… and he’s had trouble sleeping.” Effectively, Yuna placed the right amount of exaggeration on her words to really sink into Baralai, causing the jeweler to settle nervously onto his stool.

“But… doesn’t he…” Baralai’s eyes watered. “He’s out of my caste, Lady Yuna… I appreciate what you are trying to do, but I…”

“Baralai…” Yuna ran her fingers through the young man’s soft hair, making him look up to her with a touch of her fingers to his chin. “Kimahri pointed the two of you out to me at the celebration.” Yuna paused to giggle gently. “He nudged me and said ‘Look at Baralai… your cousin…’” her flat, poor imitation of the Ronso’s deep voice made the jeweler grin slightly.

“You two looked so sweet together… And Gippal has missed you. I’ve missed you too. I still owe my life to you, sweet savior Baralai.”

“Lady Yuna… you flatter me as much as your cousin…” blushed the white-haired youth, gripping the gold ring in his fist. “But I will go, as you request… but, may I ask something, my lady?”

Yuna bade Baralai to stand and agreed to answer his question. The jeweler took the ring from his neck before he asked the question, turning it over in his hands nervously. “Why would you not marry Gippal? It would be a great union for your countries.”

Yuna sighed and nodded dolefully. “Yes, that it would be, but I actually have been exchanging letters with the next Emperor of Zanarkand…” her voice dropped quietly, and she blushed, hiding her face in her cloak’s long sleeves.

Baralai laughed gently and let out a relieved sigh. “So we are all in a mess then?”

Yuna chuckled and pulled the hood to her cloak back into place. “I can settle getting out of the marriage with my father, Baralai. You, however, are to meet Gippal tomorrow in the royal garden. I’ve arranged it with the guard so that you two can have alone time together while everyone else celebrates.”

Baralai blushed and bowed gratefully, a wide smile crossing his face. Yuna asked for Clasko to join them as he had a gift from the princess for the humble craftsman. It was a set of clothes from the wardrobe that Braska had presented to Baralai but the jeweler had abandoned in his hasty reclusion.

“Wear this tomorrow. I know you’ll be breathtaking in it,” mandated Yuna, eschewing her friendliness with a strong demand and benign compliments. Baralai, of course, would not refuse such an opportunity. Taking the clothes in hand, the jeweler said his goodbyes to Yuna, showering her with gratitude and appreciation.

“Oh, and Baralai, one more thing…” said Yuna as she began to exit his shop. “Hold onto those wedding rings. You’ll need them for your own marriage.”

“Of course, my lady.”


The next day was the Eclipse Celebration. Food and fun flooded the streets and palace in Bevelle, and all manner of commerce was closed in reverence for the crossing of Lunaris and Solis. Baralai was swept into the palace as soon as the guards greeted him at the door, awaiting his secret meeting with Gippal.

Trembling hands smoothed the artisan’s dove-white hair into place over and over again in the mirror of Yuna’s personal chambers. Nervous fingers rotated Gippal’s gold ring around on Baralai’s hand as he paced the width of the chamber, pausing occasionally to make sure he looked all right.

“Baralai, calm down. You’re going to exhaust yourself before you even get to see him,” snickered Yuna, taking the taller youth by his shoulders and seating him on her bed.

“Th-thank you, Lady Yuna… I’m just so… he really does want to see me?” asked Baralai, drawing a groan from Yuna in mock displeasure.

“Kimahri think that Baralai worries too much. Jeweler look fine.” The Ronso’s bland comment drew stifled laughter from the young man and princess.

“See, Baralai, you look great. Even Kimahri notices. So please relax. Gippal will be waiting in the garden as planned. All right?” Yuna patted Baralai’s exposed knee, giving him that reassuring smile she always seemed to have when her friends were in desperation for relief.

Baralai looked down at the toga he wore, and his blush increased. The material was soft and gauzy, and again, just as pale as his hair, however he had a simpler, shier look about himself this time, and it suited the young man better than the lavish outfit he had met Gippal in.

“I can’t thank you enough, Lady Yuna, for this opportunity,” stated Baralai again, hugging the princess warmly.

“Good, that means you’re excited. I can only imagine how Gippal is feeling…”


At that moment, on the other side of the palace, Gippal was in the same nervous state as Baralai, pacing his guest chamber like a bride before her wedding. Rikku, playing the same role of comfort as her cousin Yuna, grew tired of Gippal’s stride and reduced herself to anchor, hanging onto Gippal’s leg as a child would her mother.

“Gippy, you’re making me dizzy,” whimpered the youngest royal, taking her childish baby tone of voice that drove Gippal crazy. The Al Bhed prince pulled his leg free and fell back against the bed.

“Well, the time draws so close. You’d go just as crazy if you were in my place,” complained Gippal, resting on his elbows. “I’m just so worried…”

“You’re gonna get wrinkled up like that. And I would not. I’m not interested in Baralai,” giggled the little blonde, sitting on her brother’s waist. “Now it’s time to get going. If you don’t get out of here soon, Baralai will think you don’t like him. He’s too pretty to make sad!”

Gippal took a deep breath and nodded. Sitting up, Rikku rolled off her brother’s stomach like an oversized water drop. Rikku laid on her back, waving her hands at the ceiling, watching her brother’s hesitation.

“Get going already. I’ve watched grass grow faster than you move.”

Gippal let out a snorted laugh. “You live in a desert.”

“Exactly! Now get your butt in gear! I’ll distract pop, you go get all smoochy!” Rikku bounded up and pushed on Gippal’s back, making him stand. The prince examined his golden yellow, vested attire and nodded in approval, slipping out of his room and sneaking into the royal garden. The guards at the garden’s entrance nodded at the sight of the prince, then acted as if he were not there, giving Gippal the window he and Baralai would need to be alone.

Baralai was already waiting at the garden’s heart, seated delicately on a stone bench near a natural spring that lay near the young man’s feet. Gippal felt his heart stop as he drew closer. The silver-haired man sat with his back to the man he waited for, patiently watching the spring’s waters, trembling some in anticipation.

He looks simply amazing… seated there, he must be something from the Heavens… Solis, Bahamut, you are most kind to me… thought the royal Al Bhed, stepping up to his desire with all the confidence he could. Sun-warmed hands cupped Baralai’s shoulders, snapping the young Bevellian from his thoughts with a start.

Baralai looked up to Gippal and gave a smile to the prince that found the Al Bhed weak in the knees. The blonde was floored at what a simple gaze and smile could do to a man. Yet it was evident that Baralai was more than a mere man. He was much more. He was everything Gippal truly desired.

“My prince, you came for me…” stated the commoner softly. “I admit I was nervous…”

“Shh, you had your reasons to be. My father’s foolish announcement…”

Baralai stood and shook his head. “No, let’s not think on that now… the eclipse has started…”

A playful smirk crossed Gippal’s full mouth at those words. “That it has.” He pulled the moon-shaped pendant Baralai had given him from under the tall collar of his vest, then drew Baralai’s ring-hand to his lips and kissed his fingers gently. “I’m delighted to see you kept my ring.”

“I…” Baralai blushed. “I would never throw away a gift, my Prince… my Gippal.” The jeweler pushed himself into Gippal’s arms, his head rested against the prince’s collarbone. “I can hear your heart pounding,” he whispered.

“I think all of Spira can hear my heart pounding…” replied Gippal, stroking his warm hands over Baralai’s arms. “But it’s only meant for you.”

The commoner in white gave a soft sound of delight, then withdrew from Gippal’s embrace to sink onto the bench again. Gippal sat as well, disheartened until Baralai snuggled once again into the Al Bhed’s strong arms. The couple looked skyward, watching the moon as it slowly began its journey to block the sun’s rays, the sky very slowly darkening to shades of warm violet and dark amber-gold.

As they watched, Gippal pulled Baralai tighter against his body, gradually losing interest in the show of nature and becoming more interested in kissing Baralai’s neck. Shivers emitted from the smaller man’s body, and his breathing increased almost to a pant.

“Gippal… what are you…mmm…” Baralai’s words died against Gippal’s lips as the blonde royal pulled the jeweler into a deep, loving kiss. Tongues explored mouths, and Gippal’s mouth once again began to explore Baralai’s neck.

“Gippal…Gip…pal…oh…mmm…” moaned the Bevellian, craning his head back to give Gippal access to all he wanted. Baralai’s face was red as the sky darkened further, casting the world in violet-red shadow. “Please…don’t stop…”

“I would do anything for you, my rose… anything…” whispered Gippal, nibbling Baralai’s ear as soon as the words passed his full lips. “I am your slave…” At that, Gippal’s hands slipped under the skirt-line of Baralai's toga, caressing soft, strong thighs, drawing more moans from the smaller man in Gippal’s lap.

Baralai could hardly breathe, let alone think of a command. In a shaky voice, Baralai, upon drawing himself tighter against Gippal’s chest, made his request.

“Gippal, make love to me.”

The prince needed no further instructions. Laying his lover on the plush garden grasses, Gippal slowly stripped Baralai until the white-haired beauty laid trembling and nude on the garden’s floor. Baralai’s hands reached up to divest Gippal of his own clothing, leaving only the prince’s eye patch and the crescent pendant to his body.

The garden soon became filled with gentle moans and whispered promises of enduring love as both men engaged in their intimate act. Both young men called to each other, and responded to the other’s cries with sweet kisses and loving caresses. Both men felt each other’s energy, and understood the bond that fate had bestowed upon them since their primary meeting.


Baralai laid on his side, breathless, curled against Gippal’s sun-warmed chest as the moon and sun separated paths once again. Gippal’s fingers trailed along his lover’s side, and he wore a smile of genuine joy as he looked to the beauty that laid in his arms.

“I’ll make sure you never leave my side again, Baralai. I promise. Yuna and I will get the marriage called off, and then you will be mine forever. I’ll get Aniki to change our laws, and you’ll be my husband… I promise.”

The young jeweler wiped precious tears from his eyes and returned Gippal’s adoring grin with a wide smile of his own. “I will never leave your side, my love.” Baralai leaned in to kiss Gippal again, suddenly being interrupted by a terrified shriek from within the palace walls.

“LADY YUNA! LADY YUNA HAS BEEN MURDERED! CALL OUT THE GUARD!”