Yay! Lloyd's Back story part 3, the last part of this arc. This features the reactions of the Iselians as they meet him for the first time. Now includes Raine and Genis. Yay! ... And Phaidra snuck in here too.

Disclaimer: I don't own it, Neither of them. Starving College Student.

Lloyden Aurion stared at the face that looked back at him in the mirror, mentally preparing for what he was about to do. The stranger that stared back at him had plain brown hair, mud brown eyes, and must obviously no scar on his forehead. His hair was styled differently, piled up on his head and not left down, and the bright red jacket he wore brought attention away from his face. As he stared in the mirror, all he could think was 'I don't look like me.'

That was the point of course. Several discussions with Dirk and Colette had revealed that no one knew who he was here. It was Colette who had come up with the idea of changing the most noticeable things about him into more common features. She had shown him how she had hidden herself to sneak out of the village. Even if it was a small village, she still went unnoticed. She was a powerful witch it would seem - powerful, but untrained. Though what she could do without a wand… This glamour and notice-me-not charm combined with the story he and Dirk had worked out would make sure no one could connect this stranger with the more well-known Lloyden Aurion. But of course, no one had heard of Lloyden Aurion in Iselia. Or it seemed on Sylvarant.

Hadn't that been a surprise? To learn the land he thought he and his mother had made up in their imaginations existed. It was mind-boggling. And he'd been carried there, away from Britain and his life as the famous Lloyden Aurion, The-Boy-Who-Lived. He also didn't know if he could go back. Or if any of the rules about magic applied here. Colette had said they didn't but he couldn't be sure. He was being hunted, the less he could draw attention to himself the better because if he could come here, maybe Voldemort could as well. And that was unacceptable he thought as he wandered out of the house, waved goodbye to Dirk and headed down the path towards Iselia Village and Colette.

Nothing for it then, for better or worse he was Lloyd Irving now.

Colette was nervous. Lloyd was coming to the village for the first time today. This would be the first test of whether he could fit in here, the first test to see if he could keep being her friend. She'd argued with him, shown him some of her magic, worked with him until he could support the spell (then they'd figured out how to anchor it to his Exsphere, of course Dirk would tell them about ExGems after all that work) and badgered him about pronunciation. His accent would be the problem she thought, at least until Dirk had reminded the pair that Lloyd was supposed to have been raised by him. Little things like his lack of general knowledge and his way of speaking might be forgiven by the convenient excuse of not being raised properly human. Colette hoped so, she genuinely liked Lloyden and she thought he liked her too. But she was also worried because she hadn't been totally honest about being the Chosen One. She hoped Lloyd wouldn't like her any less for that, because for the first time, she had someone who cared about Colette.

Genis hated his life.

As he sat underneath a the large tree in front of his house and watched the other children play, wishing he could join in but to proud to ask, he wished not for the first time he was someone different. Someone who wasn't the teacher's little brother, someone who wasn't a genius. Someone who was human.

"Hello?"

A shadow appeared over him. A boy, dressed in red, who looked about sixteen and who Genis had never seen before peered down at him. Genis stared back.

"Hi?"

"Oh good, you speak Common. I wasn't sure."

Genis wondered why someone wouldn't know how to speak common before he realised the boy was still speaking.

"Do you know where Colette Brunel lives? She gave me directions, but I think I got turned around somewhere."

Genis stared some more. Colette? As in the Chosen? Who was this boy, exactly? He didn't look like he was affiliated with the Church.

"Who are you?" Genis said a bit rudely.

"Oh sorry, forgot to introduce myself. My name's Lloyd Irving, I live in the forest with Dirk, the Dwarf. This is my first time in the village. What's your name?"

"I'm Genis Sage."

"Nice to meet you Genis. So, do you know where Colette lives? She's my friend, but I'm sure she wouldn't mind if you came along to visit."

"You want to be my friend? And you're friends with the Chosen?"

"Why do you keep saying that? Sure, let's be friends. You're the second person I've met, so I'm off to a good start."

Genis stood up and walked in the direction of the Chosen's house, bewildered he was even helping this strange boy. But, he'd been nice to Genis, hadn't looked at his hair or ears and sneered. That was a point in his favour. Besides maybe Lloyd Irving was smarter than he looked.

"So…What's a Chosen?"

Or not. So Lloyd was a bit of an idiot, that was ok. He had a friend.

Phaidra had seen a lot of things in her day, but this, this was probably the most unexpected. A boy dressed in red had knocked on her door, accompanied by the young Genis Sage and had asked, with absolutely no sense of decorum or tact, if this was Colette Brunel's house and if it was, was Colette in?

Colette. Not the Chosen One. If the horrified look on the young Sage boy's face was to believed, he had no idea what kind of social faux pas he'd just committed. Her son frowned and replied, "This is the Chosen's residence, yes."

"No, I'm not looking for the Chosen, I'm looking for Colette," the young man turned to Genis, "I thought you said this was her house." He looked totally perplexed.

"Colette is the Chosen, Lloyd." Genis sighed. Ah, Lloyd, so that was his name.

Who now looked completely confused, "Okay. But her name's Colette." He turned to Frank and asked, "Why didn't you just say she was here when I asked for her?"

Phaidra broke in at that point, "Young man, it is disrespectful to refer to the Chosen One by her name."

Lloyd just stared at her. "I'm sorry?" It sounded like a question, but also like he thought she was a bit unhinged. "That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard in my life. Is Colette here or not?" he said, getting impatient now.

Her granddaughter chose that moment to come running down the stairs. "Lloyd! You're here!" She exclaimed joyfully, and pulled the young man into a hug.

"Of course." Lloyd said as he returned it, "I said I'd be didn't I?"

"Oh, Genis. It's nice to see you too." Said Colette smiling down at the elf.

"He showed me the way here, I got a bit lost," said Lloyd, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment, "By the way, what's up with this whole 'Chosen' thing? Nobody seems to know what your name is." He looked expectantly at Colette.

"Lloyd! How can you not know what the Chosen One is? Don't you follow Martel?" Genis said, exasperated.

"Never heard of her." Lloyd scratched his chin and turned back to Colette, "Is this an important thing among humans? Something I should probably learn if I want to fit in? Dirk certainly never mentioned it."

The group, minus Colette, just stared at him in disbelief.

"Maybe we should introduce Lloyd to Professor Sage and get him signed up for school?" asked Colette, looking fretfully around the room.

"Yeah come on Lloyd, you can meet Raine." Said Genis as he tugged Lloyd away from the house.

As she watched the children wander off towards the Sage's home, she glanced at the Dwarf-raised boy.

His eyes are the colour of the leaves of the Kharlan Tree…

As she watched his image flicker back and forth, the way her granddaughter's sometimes did, she thought,

'A blessing in disguise, Lady Martel?'

The wind caressed her aged face and laughed.

He was a strange boy, thought Raine Sage as she observed her brother laughing with the Chosen and the dwarven-raised child he had brought home with him and introduced as Lloyd and Colette. She had been about to correct him on his manners (addressing the Chosen One so informally!) when Lloyd had laughed and reached his hand out to shake hers.

"Pleased to meet you, Professor Sage."

Or at least, she thought he'd said that. From what she'd heard his way of speaking wasn't quite normal. Well, he had been raised by a dwarf, and he'd be joining her class in a few days. That would give her plenty of time to correct his mispronunciation and find out just where his education was.

As she watched the children laugh together, she thought that maybe this blossoming friendship might turn into good for Genis after all.

This friendship will pay off six months from now, on the Colette's fourteenth birthday. The Day of Prophecy, when the Iselians will run towards the light of the heavens and be oblivious to the radiant death that light conceals.

Lloyden Aurion, however, will not.

Fin.