They had spent their entire day walking through the hot Salikawood. Ashe could just feel the breeze from the coast, but the big gate remained closed without its Moogle operators. Fran and Basch had drawn the short straws and were traipsing back through the woods in search of the Moogle foreman's crew. Ashe would tug on the gate herself if it would get her to Archades faster, but for now they had to wait.
Vaan and Penelo sat down on the ground in front of the gate and began talking excitedly about sneaking into the Empire through the back door. The sky pirate called over to them. "You know, it's not exactly sneaking if you yammer on like that!"
Penelo blushed, but Vaan was undeterred. "There's no one out here but dream hares, Balthier. Maybe you should calm down!" the young man replied. "Archadia isn't that dangerous, right?"
Balthier rolled his eyes and unsnapped one of the small pouches that hung from his belt. He removed a deck of cards and began shuffling them. "Well, since we are currently stuck here, would anyone care to play?"
Ashe shook her head and preferred to examine an old map of the Phon Coast for a potential route to take when the path cleared. Vaan and Penelo walked over and sat down on the ground to join the sky pirate.
"I've never played cards before," Vaan admitted, hanging his head in defeat. Ashe looked up to see Balthier grin larger than she had ever seen him grin before, and the Princess knew that Vaan had just made a big mistake.
"Never played cards?" Balthier asked in surprise, and Penelo also admitted to not having any knowledge of card playing. "Maybe you children would be better suited to the Moogle hunt with Fran and Basch?"
"Hey!" Vaan cried, "We're not children!"
Ashe withheld a smile and was about to turn back to the map when Balthier spoke again. "Well then Vaan, how would you like to play 52 card pick-up?"
The Princess scowled at the pirate's suggestion. "Balthier, don't…"
The young man looked between Balthier and Ashe then, not catching on. "What? What is it?" Penelo's interest was piqued, and Ashe could tell the girl hoped to be included as well. Balthier's eyes caught hers then, a silent demand to not reveal the trick. She wanted to prevent the children from being fooled, but she supposed they could all use some diversion.
"Princess, let him play it if he doesn't know it," the sky pirate said with a devious wink. He shuffled the cards expertly, and Ashe found herself watching him in amazement. The children were also mesmerized by the deft movements of Balthier's fingers as he shuffled like it was second nature.
When he was done shuffling, he did not look at Vaan or Penelo, but at her since she was now in on the deception. "Would you like to do the honors, your Highness?" he inquired, holding the cards out to her.
There was something else in his gaze, something more than a silly card trick, and Ashe shook her head. She returned her eyes to the map, feeling her face redden at his attention. "No, thank you. I had enough older brothers to teach me to play that game," she replied, looking for the location of the Hunter's Camp on the faded old parchment.
She did not look up from the map when she heard Vaan and Penelo cry out in surprise along with the sound of cards fluttering through the air. The jack of spades landed in her lap as Balthier shouted "Pick up!" noisily.
"That's not fair!" Penelo squealed, and Ashe picked up the worn card and smiled. A knave from the knave. If a person could be a playing card…she thought with a smirk.
She held up the jack and waved it at Balthier. "I've got you here in my lap, Balthier!" she exclaimed. But instead of the expected laughs, she met the blank faces of the children, and a look of utter surprise from the sky pirate. It was then that Ashe realized the folly of her silly utterance. I've got you here in my lap?! She wanted to hide behind the tree stump.
Ashe fumbled for the words to undo her great faux pas. "It's a jack! A knave card! And there's no better personification for that card than yourself, Balthier," she muttered in a sorry attempt to explain what she had meant.
He laughed at her and began helping Vaan and Penelo pick up the cards. She folded up the map and stowed it away in her belongings. Ashe knew he would never let her live that down, so she felt the need to escape. "Maybe I'll go see if I can help look for the Moogles," she said quietly, picking up her sword and shield.
"No Ashe, don't go!" Vaan cried, "You have to teach us a real game!" She sighed and acquiesced. She joined Vaan, Penelo and the retrieved cards in a circle with Balthier deciding to sit by her side.
He leaned over to whisper in her ear as Vaan and Penelo fretted over the cards, attempting to mimic Balthier's shuffling prowess. "Shall I sit in your lap, Princess?" he asked wickedly, and she scooted closer to Penelo at his behavior.
"I spoke without thinking," she retorted and waited for the children to be satisfied with their shuffling. He said nothing else while Ashe did her best to explain a simple game of poker to Vaan and Penelo. The girl caught on quickly, but Vaan seemed to have a great deal of difficulty making a poker face.
Balthier dealt the next hand, and Vaan made a disgusted face at the cards he had. The sky pirate snorted at the obvious display, and Ashe cleared her throat to get the young man's attention. "Vaan, if your cards are poor, you should not let us know."
"But I don't have anything!" he replied sadly, letting his hand down to reveal his cards to the rest of the group. Balthier groaned at Vaan's behavior, but Ashe's eyes widened.
Penelo looked at the young man's cards quickly, and then her eyes darted up to look between the two older players. "Is that what I think it is?" she asked, holding her own cards against her chest.
Balthier's laughter echoed throughout the valley between the forest and the gate as Ashe peered forward to examine Vaan's cards. "I don't believe it!" she cried, "Vaan, you have a royal flush!"
"Just like you did a while ago, Princess," Balthier joked, throwing his cards down on the ground. He stood up to greet Fran, who was now returning with a pair of Moogles. The Princess thought back to her verbal misstep earlier. A royal flush, indeed. Ashe sighed at Balthier's sense of humor as Fran explained how many more tiny engineers she needed to retrieve from the Salikawood.
Ashe dealt another hand to Vaan and Penelo as she tried to listen in on the pirate and Viera's conversation. They were speaking in hushed tones, the words "Draklor" and "father" making themselves known to her ears. What were they talking about, Ashe wondered.
Eventually Balthier seemed to grow frustrated, and Fran shook her head. The Viera turned around to head back to the Salikawood as her partner sat down in a huff on a stump. He took out his gun, some oil and a cloth and began to clean it, his mind seemingly miles away. Ashe had never seen the sky pirates argue, and she knew something was wrong.
She turned back to the game, giving Balthier some privacy. By some stroke of luck, Vaan continued to win the next few hands. Eventually the sky pirate seemed to calm down a bit, the tension falling away from his shoulders as he went into a methodical cleaning mode. He looked over to their game finally, his usual good humor returning.
"If you've never played cards before, what in Ivalice do children in Rabanastre do when they are growing up? Is Dalmasca so backwards that you don't learn card games?" he inquired, returning his cleaning supplies to his pack on the ground.
Vaan and Penelo shrugged, but Ashe would not take the insult to her country lightly. She glared at the sky pirate.
"Children in Rabanastre go outside and enjoy their youthful years! They enjoy the sunshine. They run and play and act like children, for goodness sake! They don't waste their time like you seemed to! I bet you spent your entire childhood in seedy pirate taverns, wasting your money on these foolish card games!" she scolded.
She expected him to laugh at her accusation, but instead he frowned. He turned away with a shaking of his head, and Ashe wondered what she had said to affect him so greatly. Eventually he returned with a smile, but she could tell that it was forced.
"You think you know so much about how I spent my youth, Princess?" he asked snidely. He retrieved his cards from the children and herself, returning them to the pouch at his side. He slung his gun onto his back and marched off. Basch emerged from the woods then with more Moogles, and Ashe felt like she had committed some grave error.
Vaan and Penelo chatted with the Moogles as Basch approached her. She watched Balthier wander off into the Salikawood alone, his usual confident swagger absent. "Your Majesty, is Balthier taking my place?" Basch inquired.
Ashe nodded. "So it would seem," she replied quietly. She let Basch talk about their plans for the next leg of their journey as she watched the sky pirate's back disappear into the lush green trees.