[Thread; Closed]

[eidolon_soul]

Characters: Rydia and Ellone
Progress: On-going
Summary: Serious discussion, opening up about a few things.
Location: Dali
Date: January, 1805 Maybe a day or two after the birth?
Warnings: Angst? Other than that, nah.

Comments

[winhillstime]

Fortunately or unfortunately, Ellone had the same idea. She should have been just as exhausted as Rydia and Raine, but she wasn't. Maybe it was the nerves and the excitement. Maybe it was the knowledge of just how close she'd come to losing Raine a second time. Maybe it was the stress of keeping her own past from Slai. The last thing she wanted was for the young girl to know what it was like to lose a parent.

Well, she'd already known that, but if she'd lost Raine, too, it would have been too much too soon. Ellone wasn't sure she'd have been able to keep Slai's trust after losing everyone. She was just thankful it had worked out. Somehow.

So, she was sitting at the kitchen table blowing on a mug of hot tea trying to get it to cool off so she could relax enough to sleep. When she heard someone approaching, she stood, out of habit more than anything else.

"Hello?" she called softly, wondering who was awake at this hour.

[eidolon_soul]

Rydia came to a halt just inside the kitchen, eyebrows raised. "Ellone?" She was surprised to see the other woman up, assuming that she would be having some much-deserved rest.

Upon spotting that mug of hot tea, Rydia smiled. "Great minds think alike, I see. Mind if I join you?"

[winhillstime]

Ellone gave a tired smile when she noticed Rydia and moved to pour another mug of tea. "Not at all. The water's still hot, so, here." She handed the mug over and went back to sit down, still looking, and feeling, far more exhausted than her sleep schedule would let anyone think. She still felt drained.

"I thought I'd be the only one up at this hour."

[eidolon_soul]

"Thank you!" Rydia smiled and accepted the mug, taking a sip. She savored it for a moment before responding further, then peered at Ellone. "I thought the same, actually. By all rights, I should be tired enough to sleep...but I can't."

She shrugged, not certain how else to explain it or if it was worth mentioning. Besides, she had seen the strain Brooke's birth had put on everyone, including Ellone. That deserved more focus than her own issues. "What about you?"

[winhillstime]

Ellone looked a little uncharacteristically uneasy for a moment as she fingered her mug, but she offered a tired smile anyway. "I can't, either, but I know why."

Taking a better hold on her mug, she stared at it as though the liquid might hold the answers she sought. It didn't of course and she sighed, bringing the mug up so she could sip the hot drink. "I was just thinking about everything that's happened in the last few days... and how I wish Uncle Laguna had been here... again."

[eidolon_soul]

Rydia nodded, her expression instantly sympathetic. "It's so unfair that he couldn't be with his family at this time. You all need each other...and family shouldn't be separated." She stared downward at her mug, thinking of her own just briefly.

[winhillstime]

Ellone frowned at her mug again, letting the warm drink sooth her throat. Uncle Laguna hadn't been there to see either of his children be brought into the world... any world. He hadn't seen Squall until his son was seventeen. He'd missed so much. Ellone was afraid he'd miss so much more this time around, too.

"It's not just that," she murmured. Rydia had already proven herself trustworthy to Ellone, so Elle didn't feel too badly about admitting to certain things. Besides that... Rydia just happened to be here at the right time, right when Ellone needed someone outside the situation to talk to about this. "There's more to it than just that."

[eidolon_soul]

Rydia didn't respond for a moment, taking a long sip and letting those words sink in. When she set the mug down, her brow furrowed. "What do you mean? Did something else happen?"

In fact, she was almost certain of that from the way Ellone had behaved earlier. There was reason to panic, yes, but still...she couldn't shake the feeling that there was more. Perhaps now she would learn, though Rydia wouldn't push Ellone any further than the other was comfortable with sharing.

[winhillstime]

Ellone sighed wearily, reaching up to tuck a chunk of her hair behind her ear nervously. She'd barely said anything about this to anyone and she wasn't really sure how Rydia would take the news.

"I don't know if you ever met Uncle Laguna, but when we first moved here to Dali, there were rumors going around about Uncle Laguna," she began, finally glancing up at Rydia. "They called him things, said he was too old for her, that she could do better than him. There's seventeen years' difference between them here. I don't remember what it was back home, I was too little to care, but it was much less than that."

Seventeen years... seventeen long years. Ellone shivered slightly and fingered the mug again.

"Squall's their son, you know."

[eidolon_soul]

Rydia nodded; she knew that much. "I thought there had to be some time shifting, considering Raine's age and his own. She would be too young to be his mother, otherwise."

As for Laguna...she shook her head. "I don't think I ever met him, or if I did, it was briefly and so long ago that it doesn't matter now. I do remember those rumors, though, and how they upset Raine. People really will find any excuse to gossip."

[winhillstime]

"Seventeen years," Ellone repeated. "We're lucky Raine's here at all. Before we got here..."

This was so hard for her to talk about, but she thought she needed to, that Rydia deserved an explanation for her panic earlier.

"Those rumors upset us all for other reasons," she continued, taking another sip of her tea. "Mostly because if we were all at home, Raine wouldn't have been there with us. The last time she had a baby, Uncle Laguna couldn't be there for her. She... died giving birth to Squall."

And in those few sentences, Ellone explained just about everything. "Gaia was supposed to be a second chance for all of us, but when Uncle Laguna left..." She shook her head and let her mug fall back to the table. Something had been eating at her ever since he'd left, telling her that everything was going to go wrong this time, too. To some extent, that little voice had been right. They were lucky to have Raine at all.

[eidolon_soul]

Upon hearing about Raine, Rydia paled a bit. She forgot all about the tea, other than using the mug as something to clutch so that her hands wouldn't tremble. Her voice sunk into a near-whisper. "Poor Raine...."

She drew in a deep, steadying breath. "I'm so sorry, Ellone. Fate should never be that cruel. I...." The summoner shook her head, blinking back tears.

[winhillstime]

Ellone shook her head a little. "It's not your fault. It's just... what happened. We've all missed her so much. I grew up away from all of them. Squall and I were separated. Uncle Laguna was still in Esthar. He didn't even know he had a son until Squall was seventeen, when I finally found a way into Esthar and could talk to him."

She look upwards a little, blinking away tears as she thought about everything that had happened.

"The thought of Brooke growing up like me... I couldn't do that to her. I would have been there for her, but I couldn't bear..."

The sentence was left forgotten as Ellone rested her head in her hand and closed her eyes against the mountain of emotions swelling around inside her. It was a lot to face so suddenly, but she probably needed it.

[eidolon_soul]

It was apparent to Rydia that she needed something else, too. Ellone was strong -she had to have been, to pull through all that- but even the strong needed some support. She ignored her mug after setting it down, crossing the distance so that she could slip her arms around Ellone in a gentle hug.

"No one deserves to lose their family. I know...and I've been through the same thing, too." Well, something pretty similar.

[winhillstime]

The hug was more than welcome and Ellone leaned into it subconsciously. Part of her wished Raine was there to hold her and the other part felt selfish for even thinking it. When she could finally speak without her voice cracking again, she leaned back to look at Rydia sympathy.

"You did, too?" she murmured before sighing and looking back at her tea. "They aren't even my parents. Raine and Uncle Laguna aren't related to me by blood at all. I just called him Uncle Laguna because it seemed appropriate." She sighed wearily and rubbed her temple. "I didn't want Brooke to experience losing her parents like Squall did or for Slai to be me all over again, losing her parents and then her surrogate mother. How can the world be so cruel?"

[eidolon_soul]

Rydia sighed deeply. "I wish I knew. I first lost everyone in Mist, when Baron's king wanted us summoners destroyed. Then I lost Cecil and the others when Leviathan took me to his realm, for tutelage. Being separated from family is always painful, whether related to them by blood or not."