[Action]

[waitedinwinhill.livejournal.com]

[Since Laguna picked her up from Evil Forest, Raine has been asleep. Asleep for days. Even with being force fed healing spring water, she's still been exhausted and close enough to death's door to have earned a nervous vigil the family and a doctor. The doctor's been pretty non-committal about how the new mother is holding up, having heard her previous history.

But after sleeping for five days solid, it seems the spring water's worked its magic, because Raine is finally stirring.

She sits up in bed, startled, because she doesn't recognize it at all. She's just groggy enough to believe that the whole episode in the forest was an elaborate dream and she's just been moved somewhere else in her little village.]

Ellone? Where are you? Do you have the baby?

Comments

[winhillstime.livejournal.com]

[Ellone isn't actually in the room at the time Raine wakes up. She's close by, though, taking a drink of water, close enough to hear the cry. The glass slips from her fingers to crash to the carpet, and though the water spills, she takes no notice of it.

Could it mean...

Elle can't help but push the door open enough to look inside. Raine's sitting upright and so she opens it a little wider. Had Uncle Laguna not told her things? Had he not explained anything? That would make things so much harder on everyone... but that didn't deter her and so Elle pushes open the door enough to allow herself entrance, shutting it behind her before she turns to face the other woman again.]

...Raine. How are you feeling?

[waitedinwinhill.livejournal.com]

[Raine freezes in place, confusion written all over her face. The woman's voice sounds familiar, but she can't place it. Not at first.

That phone. One of the people on the phone.

Maybe it wasn't that much of a dream after all.]

I'm... alright. We've talked. Haven't we?

[winhillstime.livejournal.com]

[Ellone looks like she wants to take another few steps forward, but she remains by the door.]

Yes... [she pauses. How was she supposed to explain this?]

It's... it's me. Ellone.

[waitedinwinhill.livejournal.com]

[Not a dream then. Raine takes in that news in silence, then motions Ellone into the room. She takes her time looking for signs of the little girl she knew in the woman standing there.]

Laguna told me you were grown up...

[Hearing and seeing are two different things, and much as she loves Laguna, he's known to fabricate things from time to time, especially when he's close to getting a lecture.]

[winhillstime.livejournal.com]

[This is a bit awkward for her. It's been seventeen years since she's seen Raine. Seventeen long years. But she walks further into the room when invited. There's a chair nearby and she'll take a seat there, pulling her sash tighter over her arms.]

I'm really glad he went to get you.

[Better than the last time.]

What else did he tell you?

[waitedinwinhill.livejournal.com]

[Awkward. So very awkward. Laguna's told her a fair bit, and not a lick of it good. Raine fretted about it nonstop until she fell asleep, and all she wanted to do was get her hands on both her kids and hold them to make up for years of being... dead.

That one was still a kicker to believe.

And it just isn't acceptable to start hugging adult children. Sigh.]

That I... died. And that you and Squall... [Still testing out that name. She's not quite used to it yet.] ...were both grown.

[There was actually quite a bit he'd said, but so much of it still feels like a blur. The orphanage part particularly sticks out and draws one of her decisive frowns onto her face.]

[winhillstime.livejournal.com]

[Elle knows she's so very different from the young girl she once was. The fire's mostly gone from her, but as Raine looks so sad, she can't help it. She gets up to sit down on the foot of the bed, so she can see Raine better. Just because she's different doesn't mean she won't be there to comfort the woman who practically raised her.

She doesn't really know what to say, but she'll try anyway.]

But you're here now... a lot has happened... but we're all here now.

[She doesn't want to say it, but her eyes speak the words she can't: "I've missed you."]

[waitedinwinhill.livejournal.com]

Just like we wanted.

[It was a shared desire they'd had, to have their family all together. Raine smiles at that. Adopted or not, Raine considers Ellone hers, just as much as her newborn. Who isn't a newborn anymore.]

I still don't understand how all of this is even possible.

[winhillstime.livejournal.com]

[Elle offers a smile at that, though it's small. She considers Raine to be her mother.]

I don't, either, but... I'm not going to complain. I'm happy you're here. And I know Uncle Laguna is, too.

[waitedinwinhill.livejournal.com]

[Watching Ellone so subdued is painful and Raine wishes she were little again so she could pull her into her lap and stroke her hair.

Mention of Laguna banishes those wistful thoughts and her face lights up.]

I've missed him so much.

[Even Ellone wouldn't have any idea of the depth of how much Raine longed for him to come home, since she tried to maintain a brave face and just grumble about him taking forever. Once she arrived back in Winhill.]

He sure took his time getting to me. Here I am sitting in the middle of a forest with a wet backside from waking up in a stump, after giving birth to his son. And he comes waltzing in on his own schedule.

[winhillstime.livejournal.com]

[And here's a hint of the fiery young child she once was as her expression tugs downward into a slightly disapproving frown.]

Don't be so hard on him... Traveling in this world isn't nearly as easy as it was back home, especially in Esthar. All we have are the airships and seaships. Sometimes one or the other won't work. He got you as soon as he could.

[And then she seems to realize she's lecturing her mother and falls silent for a second.]

I missed you, too. It's been... long and hard without you... both of you.

[waitedinwinhill.livejournal.com]

[Ellone's response to her own nagging pulls a faint smile from her. There's some of the spirit she remembered. Still...]

I'm so sorry. I... didn't want to leave you alone.

[Remembering it was the townsfolk that even sent the children away, Raine's anger renews.]

How dare they?!

[winhillstime.livejournal.com]

I don't blame you for it... either of you.

[The harsh cry makes her start in surprise, though.]

How dare who?

[waitedinwinhill.livejournal.com]

The villagers. They had no business sending you children away like that, not telling Laguna anything.

[winhillstime.livejournal.com]

Oh... [Yes, she's not happy, either.]

I think it was for the best, though.

[waitedinwinhill.livejournal.com]

Well I don't. It's terrible!

[Raine lets out an irritated sigh, then decides grumbling about people she can't get her hands on at the moment is counterproductive.]

Tell me more? About you? And your brother? I've missed so much.

[That admission is killing her, almost as badly as the realization that she won't get the pleasure of holding her newborn again.]

[winhillstime.livejournal.com]

[okay she can't help it. She scoots forward a little and tries to place a hand on Raine's.]

I would have been in much more trouble had I stayed. They... did me a favor, even if they didn't know it.

[It's so hard to talk about, but if anyone deserves to know, it's Raine.]

[waitedinwinhill.livejournal.com]

What do you mean?

[Because there is no way that Raine can be convinced that tearing apart her family was a good thing.]

[winhillstime.livejournal.com]

[Her hand retracts now.]

If I had stayed, the sorceresses would have found me sooner and Matron wouldn't have been able to protect me. But she knew me from the Orphanage. She was able to send me away again so she could protect me, so she could distract Sorceress Ultimecia.

[waitedinwinhill.livejournal.com]

Sorceress?! I thought Laguna said he was taking care of her?

[If she sounds snappish, it's only because she cares and she's worried. And it's pretty obvious from her reaction that she considers a sorceress to be the embodiment of evil.

Probably doesn't help that Adel kept having Winhill raided and Ellone kidnapped.

Frantic, worried mother is in protective mode now.]

What happened?

[prez-leg-cramp.livejournal.com]

Hhnnnngghhbwuh?



Elloooooone. Why didn't you wake me when your mom woke up?!

[winhillstime.livejournal.com]

[Ellone hadn't been paying attention... until right then. She blinks in surprise. Whoops. A little of that childlike shame comes to her face.]

I... forgot. I wasn't sure I'd heard right.

[She's completely distracted from Raine's questions now.]

[waitedinwinhill.livejournal.com]

[Blink.

There's a Laguna popping up beside the bed and Raine's taken by surprise.]

Were you there the whole time?

[Seems she's forgotten about her questions for the time being too. That and having her family back together, even with the changes in age, is a happy thing.

She puts a hand on Laguna's head and beams with delight that he's so close. Both of them.]

[prez-leg-cramp.livejournal.com]

Yes, I was. You took the only bed in the room and there isn't enough room for two.



'Sides, the floor isn't that bad. Better than the ground outside.

[winhillstime.livejournal.com]

[She's starting to feel a little intrusive and shifts as though she wants to leave the room.]

...I think I dropped my glass of water when I came in...

[Besides, they need a chance to talk without interruption, too.]

[waitedinwinhill.livejournal.com]

[Raine shifts like she's going to get up. Moving's more tiring than she cares to admit to.

Still not turning lose of the hubby's hand though. She quite likes that.]

I can go get it.

[prez-leg-cramp.livejournal.com]

Sit.

[winhillstime.livejournal.com]

[Her response comes at the same time as Laguna's. Elle's the one who gets up.]

No. No no no. It's okay. I'll get it. I don't mind.

[Offering a smile, she walks to the door and slips out to pick up her glass and cleanup the water. It's mostly dry already but... she wants to give them a little time.]

[waitedinwinhill.livejournal.com]

[Annoyed face. Raine is making it. She loves her family, but being treated like she's frail rubs her independent nature the wrong way.]

For Hyne's sake, I just had a baby. I'm not an invalid!

[prez-leg-cramp.livejournal.com]

No, but you just had a baby! That calls for resting! Besides, you're tired, I can tell.

Totally.

[waitedinwinhill.livejournal.com]

[Sigh.

He's right, but Raine isn't about to admit it. Closest she comes is slumping back against the pillows.

After a moment of continued frown, she lets it go and uses her free hand to brush at the gray streaks in Laguna's hair.]

I won't be as bad as you were about resting.

[prez-leg-cramp.livejournal.com]

Please, you're worse than me.



As you said, I complained and whined all the time about the pain. That isn't not resting. So c'mon, chin up. You're stronger than me but that doesn't mean you can't not rest.

[waitedinwinhill.livejournal.com]

I hate feeling helpless.

[A tiny huff of air, then she finally softens into a smile. She scoots over too to make more room for Laguna.]

I'll rest. Don't worry.