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[personal profile] jeweloftolbi
tl;dr - Sheba falls to Tolbi instead of Lalivero, and is raised in Babi's court. Most, but not all, of the events following occur as they do in canon, with some changes accounting for Sheba's upbringing and the different ways she and others would react because of this.

THE EARLY YEARS
Sheba is born on Anemos. Her people's natural affinity for precognition means that the elders foresee that Weyard's destruction is certain if the Elemental Lighthouses are not lit, and they have visions of a girl that they recognize as an older Sheba taking part in the quest. After much deliberation they come to a decision and when she is three months old Sheba is thrown from the floating city in order to be in the right place at the right time.

Sheba lands outside of Altmiller Cave rather than the ancient ruins to the north of Lalivero. She survives, her impact cushioned by her innate Psynergy, and is found by Babi, Iodem, and a squadron of Tolbi Soldiers who came to investigate the bright light in the sky and the booming noise that had carried all the way to Tolbi upon impact. Babi recognizes her as being similar to the Lemurians and gives her over to Iodem's care.

Sheba is still regarded as being a child of the gods, the myth being spread by the soldiers and then the townspeople they told. Servants in the palace propagate the myth with reports of strange things happening around the child. The people of Tolbi, as they were not waiting for a savior the way the people of Lalivero were, begin to think of her as a blessing from the gods rather than someone who will save them. As time passes people refer to her as the Jewel of Tolbi for this reason, though some still refer to her as the Child of the Gods.

The citizens do not see much of her, as she rarely leaves the palace in childhood. Babi's orders are to keep her mostly isolated, except for the servants who tend to her need for food and clothing and whatnot, so that his alchemy scholars can study her and her powers without outside interference. This continues until Sheba's fifth birthday, when he allows her to begin interacting with other noble children around her age, though he still does not allow her to leave the palace, unless it is to go to a noble's estate, and even then only while accompanied by no less than six Tolbi Soldiers.

Her ability to read minds first makes itself known at the age of 6, when she is attending a banquet with Babi, Iodem, and a group claiming to be dignitaries from Kalay, bearing messages and a trade deal from Hammet. During the meal she begins to hear snippets of their thoughts, and being a 6 year old she doesn't know any better, so she asks them why they claim to be from Kalay when they are not. One of the "dignitaries," spooked by such a small child knowing things she shouldn't, panics and inadvertently reveals that their group is not from Kalay at all, but rather a rebel group hoping to depose Babi and seize power.

The would-be assassins are quickly dispatched by Tolbi Soldiers. When questioned by Babi how she knew they were lying, she says, "I heard them say it in my head."

CHILDHOOD
From then on, Babi makes more frequent checks on the development of Sheba's powers, and pushes Iodem to have her spend more time in the company of his alchemy scholars. Six months after the assassination incident she becomes acquainted with Kraden, one of Babi's most highly regarded scholars, and he begins to teach her the basic concepts of alchemy while taking the opportunity to study her.

Under his tutelage Sheba proves to be a bright and engaging (if egotistical) student. Her own powers begin to develop at a somewhat accelerated rate, as well: she begins to have faint visions of the future and quickly learns to test her limits in regards to using her power over wind and lightning. Babi is especially interested to hear about her visions and encourages Kraden to do all he can to nurture and strengthen it.

Babi also makes a point of having Sheba present when he holds court and welcomes visitors so that she can scan their minds for any sign of treachery. The people do not understand why this is, but accept it as another sign that Sheba is special. Under Babi's rule, and with the young Sheba's willingness to spy on minds for the man who had given her a place to live, Tolbi flourishes; Babi is rarely, if ever, caught unawares by a treacherous visitor.

During this entire time Sheba is raised on court etiquette; by the age of 10 she is as adept at court intrigue as anyone else, perhaps even moreso because of the advantages her ability to read minds and see the future gives her. She is content with her life. She has lessons with Kraden and an important position in the eyes of Tolbi's ruler, and lives in luxury. Because of her status as a symbol and as the Child of the Gods to the people of Tolbi, she even commands respect outside of the palace, though most of her experience with the common folk comes from attending Colosso at Babi's side, along with Iodem.

She is somewhat spoiled and used to getting her way. This changes when she is 11 years old and Kraden is tasked with traveling the world in order to unlock the secrets of alchemy for Babi. Upset at losing her teacher, she throws a fit once he has departed for Vale, which wouldn't be so bad if her fits of pique didn't involve violent windstorms and bolts of lightning. For the first time she gives an order ("Bring Kraden back!") and it isn't obeyed, and Babi punishes her by ordering her to be locked in her room for two weeks. By the time she is released, she has mostly calmed, though her dealings with Babi now lack the wide-eyed adoration she had for the ruler of Tolbi in the years past.

The next three years pass, and they are peppered with increasingly frequent visions which Sheba realizes are of her immediate future. She sees flashes of Felix and Jenna, flashes of Saturos and Menardi, and even flashes of Alex. She sees flashes of Isaac, Garet, Ivan, and Mia as well. She even has brief flashes of Piers, first of him resisting arrest and the of him sitting in a Madran jail cell. Finally she sees flashes of Kraden traveling alongside Felix and Jenna, and she makes up her mind to join them when the opportunity presents itself. She keeps an eye out for visions that may help her with beginning her journey, and during the time that Isaac's group spends traveling to Tolbi, she gets permission from Babi to go on expeditions of her own to bring back Djinn for his scholars to study.

Isaac's party arrives in Tolbi and takes part in Colosso, which Sheba recognizes from her visions as a sign that she must leave Tolbi soon if she is to meet up with Felix's group. She watches Isaac's first two rounds in Colosso (and identifies the cheating his companions do, though she holds her tongue) but fakes sick to get out of attending the final match, and when Babi is distracted with the festivities, she steals the Djinn from the scholars and sneaks out of the palace, stealing away into the Suhalla desert, which she recognizes as the setting of the vision she'd had of her first meeting with Felix. At this point she is 14 years old and a moderately powerful Adept thanks to her time studying Alchemy and honing her abilities under Babi's orders.

VENUS LIGHTHOUSE
Babi and Iodem realize that Sheba is gone while Isaac is resting after his participation, and send Tolbi Soldiers out to retrieve her. The soldiers arrive before she meets up with Saturos, Menardi, Alex, Felix, Jenna, and Kraden; most of them are killed in the desert by monsters, but some survive to witness the group encounter Sheba and bring her along with them. The survivors end up in the town of Suhalla, and mistakenly believe that she has been kidnapped. When Iodem passes through with Isaac's group, they report that Sheba is in the company of a group of people with strange powers, and that they believe said group had kidnapped her from Tolbi.

Because Sheba hasn't actually been kidnapped, she is much more cooperative with Saturos and Menardi, though hearing how exactly they coerced Kraden into traveling with them does make her angry. She does nothing to them out of anger, however; she has already had visions of their deaths, and knows that Kraden will be avenged if she leaves well enough alone. She does nothing to warn them of their impending doom, either, as she is willing to let them die.

Her reputation as a "goddess" has spread to Lalivero, and she uses it to her advantage as she negotiates with Faran to allow them access into the ruins she'd had visions of (which were not being converted to Babi Lighthouse, as Babi had no leverage over Lalivero since Sheba was never theirs at all). As an aside, when Isaac's group reaches Lalivero, the town is not in an uproar, as the girl in Saturos's company means nothing to them. Iodem must use the threat of retaliation from Tolbi Soldiers to gain access into the ruins, as Faran is not concerned about Sheba's safety. Isaac and co. are tasked with retrieving Sheba for Iodem and Babi, however.

The rest of their trek through Venus Lighthouse continues mostly as it is in canon, except for the scene at the top of the lighthouse. Felix returns, not because he is concerned with returning Sheba to her hometown, but because he is concerned with having their only known Jupiter Adept there when Saturos and Menardi will inevitably fight Isaac, who they know to be in pursuit of them. He is still worried about her safety, but not quite as angry about Saturos and Menardi involving people who have nothing to do with it because Sheba has already made it clear that she intends to stay.

When Isaac and his friends arrive, they accuse Saturos and Menardi of kidnapping Sheba, which they laugh off, stating that she has come along of her own volition. When asked if this is true, Sheba doesn't answer; instead, she reads their minds and reports to Saturos that they bear the rod he needs to enter Jupiter Lighthouse. This leads Isaac's party to believe that she has willingly joined them.

The exchange for the Shaman's Rod in exchange for Sheba's safety doesn't happen; instead, Sheba uses what she's found in their minds and tells Saturos that they might be willing to give it up in exchange for information about where to find Jenna, and the exchange is made. Saturos says, "She's on Idejima, but you'll never see her again," prompting Mia to say "What do you mean? We're going straight there after we... oh no..." just before the battle.

Sheba does still fall from the aerie after the beacon is lit, and Felix does still jump after her; the dialogue is slightly different, but the general events are the same.

THE GREAT EASTERN SEA
The events of the first half of The Lost Age mostly occur as they do in canon, albeit with some dialogue differences reflecting Sheba's attitude and the other characters' reactions to it. They still need to find a boat, and begin their search for one.

In Madra, they encounter Karst (Sheba retains her "And I thought Saturos and Menardi had issues" line, much to the amusement of her party members who are used to her speaking much more formally), though she does not tease Jenna about Isaac as she really could not care less about whether or not Jenna is hooking up with him or not. They also encounter Piers, in the jail; upon witnessing him use his Psynergy, Sheba has two visions in quick succession: One of Piers spying on Akafubu's ceremony in Kibombo, and one of Piers disembarking from a Lemurian ship at Lemuria's docks, with the rest of the party following.

Having heard of Lemuria from Babi, she comes to the conclusion that Piers can and should be used as a way to get there. She discusses this with Kraden, who is somewhat shocked at her callousness but agrees that they should try and go there if at all possible, because of the task that Babi has left to him. Thus, when Piers finally does journey to Kibombo to retrieve his Black Orb (after they've already gone to Air's Rock and she's already learned Reveal), Sheba is insistent that they go and assist him (much to the surprise of Felix and Jenna, who, after having traveled with her up until that point, were not expecting her to be so worried about a stranger).

Once they befriend Piers and gain the use of his ship, they begin their journey into the eastern seas. It is as they travel around, and Felix insists on helping almost anyone they come across, that Sheba slowly starts to become honestly fond of her companions; until then, she'd thought of them mostly as tools to be used in finding Lemuria for Babi and in keeping the world from being destroyed. She softens towards them, but for the longest time displays this in the only way she knows how - possessively (when they encounter Karst and Agatio, she snaps that "They can be fools, but they're my fools, so back off and let us handle lighting the beacons, because I would slit my own throat sooner than I would travel with you, and then how would you get into the lighthouse?" when they mention not needing the rest of the party if they had Sheba and the Jupiter Star).

Eventually they arrive in Shaman Village to exchange the Shaman's Rod for the Hover Jade. This, too, mostly occurs as it does in canon, though Sheba is a little more diplomatic about how she words her insistence that she can be a hero, owing to the fact that she was raised in a court and is used to dealing with leaders of cities and villages. They are allowed to attempt Trial Road and are rewarded with the Hover Jade upon their success and continue on to Contigo and Jupiter Lighthouse.

JUPITER LIGHTHOUSE
As they approach the unlit lighthouse Sheba's visions get less and less clear until they finally stop altogether. This leaves her very unsure of herself because she is no longer able to predict the actions of the group pursuing them, and so she is unable to keep Karst and Agatio from springing their trap on Isaac's group. Mia and Garet both fall as they do in canon and Alex heals Felix's group before sending them out to go assist them.

They do so, discovering that by the time they arrive Karst and Agatio are one step away from finishing off Isaac and Ivan. Felix insists that they leave Isaac alive, and Sheba - who by this point has come to admire his attempts to save everyone they can - agrees, helping Felix negotiate with the Proxians with the end result that Felix takes the Mars Star from Isaac and goes to light Jupiter's beacon with them right away. She also urges Piers to accompany him, worried about his safety and thinking that two warriors who can use healing Psynergy will be better than one. She and Jenna stay behind long enough to use Jenna's Aura Psynergy and Sheba's High Impact and Resist Psynergies to restore their strength and set them up for elemental defenses before hurrying to the aerie to join Felix and Piers.

They arrive in the nick of time to assist them and between their powers manage to keep Karst and Agatio from killing Felix. With the Mars Star in their possession and the knowledge that Felix could end them if they linger (even though he isn't the type to end someone), they depart for Prox and Mars Lighthouse.

Standing in the light of Jupiter's beacon once the fight is over returns Sheba's ability to see visions of the future in the worst way: She is overwhelmed by multiple visions of the end of their journey and faints. Felix, Jenna, and Piers attempt to revive her, which gives Isaac and Ivan enough time to rescue Garet and Mia and join them on the aerie. They manage to bring her around as Isaac is insisting that Felix's group must meet with them in Contigo, and she agrees with him within a few seconds of regaining consciousness. After his group leaves, Jenna and Sheba are both insistent that they go to Contigo instead of continuing on to Prox to rescue Felix's and Jenna's parents. The stubbornness of both girls prompts Felix and Piers to do as they say.

They return to Contigo and after a long discussion both groups join forces under Felix's leadership. Sheba, intrigued by what experiences another Jupiter Adept might have had, takes an interest in Ivan and spends as much time with him as she can while they make their preparations to pursue Karst and Agatio to Prox.

TO PROX
Sheba works with Ivan to have visions of their immediate future and the two of them discern what will be needed to make it to Mars Lighthouse and they make a list to present to Felix. Hamma, meanwhile has arranged for the Wings of Anemos to be added to their ship. With a plan in mind and a way to enact the plan, the group of 8 sets out for Loho to investigate the rumors of a cannon that they may be able to use to gain access to the Northern Reaches.

This post is a work in progress.

For any questions about the AU before or after this post is finished send me a PM. This AU is inspired by an idea [personal profile] marilsaan had, but is written and executed by [plurk.com profile] sparkleocity with her permission.

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Sheba, the Jewel of Tolbi

August 2013

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