Author's note: Set between getting Relm in Jidoor and going to the Fanatics' Tower.
The child sees her more clearly than any human ever has.
Freed from her shadowed self in this ruined world, Lakshmi rides in the child's pocket, teaching her all the secrets of life and how to snatch it from the jaws of death. The child is desperately lonely - none save the wild boy are anywhere near her age, and though the adults are kind, the child is now alone in the world, with her grandfather gone. When the child sleeps, the adults speak, and Lakshmi hears them speculating what to do with the child; her grandfather is not in fact dead, but seems to be in thrall to the madman who killed so many of her friends.
When all are sound asleep, Lakshmi spends all the strength she has remaining and rises from her soulstone and bends to press her lips to the child's forehead, a blessing for the one who called her image into life for no better reason than the joy of art. With it, she transfers a secret for the child alone to know, one she will teach to no others: how to heal a mind.
Lakshmi sinks back into her soulstone; she is tired, so very tired, but she remains awake long enough to see her gift put to use.
She hopes the child goes on to bring life to more art in the future, but she will not see it.
FFVI, "Gift," Relm + Lakshmi (worksafe)
The child sees her more clearly than any human ever has.
Freed from her shadowed self in this ruined world, Lakshmi rides in the child's pocket, teaching her all the secrets of life and how to snatch it from the jaws of death. The child is desperately lonely - none save the wild boy are anywhere near her age, and though the adults are kind, the child is now alone in the world, with her grandfather gone. When the child sleeps, the adults speak, and Lakshmi hears them speculating what to do with the child; her grandfather is not in fact dead, but seems to be in thrall to the madman who killed so many of her friends.
When all are sound asleep, Lakshmi spends all the strength she has remaining and rises from her soulstone and bends to press her lips to the child's forehead, a blessing for the one who called her image into life for no better reason than the joy of art. With it, she transfers a secret for the child alone to know, one she will teach to no others: how to heal a mind.
Lakshmi sinks back into her soulstone; she is tired, so very tired, but she remains awake long enough to see her gift put to use.
She hopes the child goes on to bring life to more art in the future, but she will not see it.
Lakshmi sleeps.