I don't own Algetty or, weirdly enough, Mahew. Yes, he's cannon, but you probably won't recognize him. I believe I own the other villagers, but it's okay if you borrow them. But not Lyn, she IS mine.. I don't own Chrono Trigger. And a note about the hair colors: yes, these ARE common colors in the CT world.
So, enjoy!
It was a bright and sunny spring day, and that's what woke Lyn. She shifted under the blankets, then sat up, lightly tanned skin catching the sun. Stretching showcased a rather unimpressive body, which was soon hidden when she dressed. Running fingers through her dark green hair to brush out any snarls, Lyn let her hair hang down her back, contrasting with the russet brown of her dress. Ready for the day, she left her room and went down the stairs, entering the kitchen, where her mother happily worked on something that would probably become either lunch or dinner.
"Hey, Mom. Why'd you let me sleep so late? I thought I had errands to run?" Lyn asked, snagging the bread Shanda motioned her towards.
"It's not that late," Shanda answered, laughingly. Purple hair framed a face just starting to show laugh lines, while a streak of flour dusted a cheek. "The sun only just came up, and you looked so peaceful. You've still got plenty of time to do your chores."
Lyn looked out the window, gauging how long the sun had been up. Her mother had a tendency to get lost in her cooking and forget how much time had passed. As she suspected, the sun had been up for more than a short while. "Mom... it's been at least an hour," the young girl corrected, eating the bread.
That caused Shanda, finally looking away from the food, to blink at the window in an almost accusatory manner. Brushing a lock of hair from her face with her arm, and unintentionally spreading the flour, she asked, "Now, when did that happen... Oh well, the more focused I get--"
"The better the meal!" Lyn finished enthusiastically.
"Hasn't been proven wrong yet," her mother responded, returning to work. "Finish your breakfast and do your errands, then."
When the bread was finished, Lyn picked up a basket and left the house, going north towards Widow Marie's house. The widow was a good woman who worked hard growing vegetables in a small garden. Unfortunately, she had a habit of working too hard, and often threw out her back. She had done so yesterday, and Lyn wanted to check in on her before she had time to injure anything today.
It was a short walk from Lyn's house to Marie's house, and as expected, the widow was already up, kneeling in her garden and pulling up weeds from among the newly sprouted vegetables. When she saw the young woman, the widow sat up and waved. "Hello, Lyn! Come to say hello to an old woman?"
Lyn nodded, smiling. "Wanted to make sure you weren't pushing yourself to hard. My healing tech only works so well, you know." Picking her way through the neat rows, Lyn finally knelt beside Marie. "So how you feeling?"
"I'm doing just fine, young'un. Weeding's hard on the hands, not the back. And I'll make sure to ask for help with my baskets next time, too." Widow Marie gave Lyn a fond smile. She owed a lot to the young girl, and her useful technique. "Shanda cooking? Let you sleep in?"
A frown creased Lyn's face for a moment, then she nodded. No use asking how Marie knew that; Lyn had promised to come over first thing in the morning, so it wasn't very hard for Marie to figure out when she'd woken up. "Yeah, and I've really gotten behind... I have to go to market, and check on Doan's kid, and... Well, you know how it goes."
Widow Marie winked, a cunning smile on her winkled face. "You should pick up a ribbon for your hair at the market. Young men like women who fancy themselves up a bit. Maybe a nice orange or yellow; match your hair."
Lyn blushed furiously and stood up. She'd tried telling Marie that none of the boys in town had caught her eye, but the widow didn't seem to care, just merrily continued her matchmaking. "I'll... yeah, I'll have to see if there's anything there..." the girl muttered, starting to leave. "You take care now!"
"You too, Lyn!" Marie answered, waving at the retreating girl before going back to work.
Heading south, toward the center of town, Lyn passed her house again. Everyone worried about how close Marie and Shanda were to the forest, but the mamono on Denadoro almost never left the mountain, so Lyn didn't see any reason TO worry. She liked being away from the center of town. Out here on the edge you could be alone, and she liked the greenery. The town center bordered too close to the desert for her liking. She was almost at the market square now, and the dirt path had changed to rough paving stones. The sun was high in the sky, and she could hear voices up ahead.
She decided to check on Doan's boy before she bought anything. If she did any shopping when there was a patient waiting for her, she couldn't properly relax and enjoy the shopping. Passing the bakery, Lyn waved at the baker, who was just putting the first sweet buns out. Doan's house was just beyond the bakery. He was a carpenter, and his three-year-old son had found the tools the other day. Luke had managed to cut himself pretty badly, but Lyn's tech and quick action had prevented any serious damage.
Lyn knocked on the door before opening it. "Sera? You in? It's me, Lyn!" she called from the doorstep.
Doan's wife answered from the bedroom. "In here, Lyn! I was just helping Luke get changed."
Going in, Lyn waited a moment for her eyes to adjust, then met Sera coming out of the bedroom with a sullen Luke in tow. Bending down to the toddler's level and placing her basket on the floor, Lyn smiled brightly "Hey there, Luke! How's your arm?"
Silently, Luke offered the bandaged arm, watching Lyn with solemn blue eyes. Sera answered Lyn's question, "Oh, it's been doing just fine, I think. We're just so thankful, we were so worried when we saw him standing there, but he's doing just fine. The cut's almost all healed up!"
The green-haired girl mostly ignored Sera's words as she unwrapped the bandage and looked at the arm herself. The healing wound was an angry red, slowly giving away to scaring on the outer edges. Lyn debated healing it again and leaving it undressed, but decided that it would probably be better for Luke's body to heal the rest of the way on its own. As she was re-wrapping the arm, Lyn looked up at Sera, who had stopped talking. "He should be fine. You can probably stop bandaging it after today." She smiled at Luke as she released his arm. "Now Luke, you be good and listen to your mother, okay?"
The child gave no answer, looking at his arm in wonderment like he did at the end of every visit. Sera didn't seem to notice, following Lyn as she went to the door. "Thank you ever so much. I don't know where we'd be without you."
"Don't worry, Sera. I'm glad he's doing so well." Re-adjusting the basket on her arm, Lyn left the carpenter's house.
The bakery was almost next door, and while Shanda was a good cook, she didn't really like baking. So, Lyn entered, inhaling the wonderful scent of fresh bread. "Hi, Maris," she greeted the girl behind the counter.
The baker's oldest daughter smiled at Lyn. "How'd ya know Da just finished baking a batch? Just one loaf, like usual?"
"Yeah," Lyn answered, putting her basket on the counter and digging in her pouch for the gold to pay for the bread.
"Hey, have ya heard the latest?" Maris asked, grabbing a square of cloth from Lyn's basket.
"No, what?" Green hair swayed as Lyn shook her head.
Wrapping a loaf in the cloth, Maris leaned in closer, dropping her voice conspiratorially. "Well, it's nothing major, but Tobias told me last night that his Da was down by the mountains to the south-east, and you'll never guess what he saw there!"
Tobias was the son of Mahew, who was known for getting drunk a little more often then was wise. Tobias was ALSO Maris' suitor, which didn't make her father Daril very happy, but with four daughters what was a baker to do? Somewhat less than interested, Lyn asked, "No, I won't, I'm sure. What did he see?"
"He said the cliff shook and opened, some of those mamono walked right out, and then the mountain closed up behind them, nice as ya please!"
"Um-hum. And why didn't the mamono attack him?"
Maris gave Lyn a withering look, placing the bread in the basket. "He wasn't stupid! He was hiding, of course. They didn't see him, walked right on by! Betcha in two days we'll hear another town's been burnt out. My Da can't figure why King Guardia don't send some o' his troops down, protect the villages that feed the kingdom, ya know?"
Lyn handed Maris the gold and started looking for an out. Maris meant well, but she could talk about nothing all day, and Lyn still had errands. "Well, I'm sure the King has his reasons... But I have to be going, Maris. I promised Widow Marie that I'd buy a hair ribbon." Why'd she have to say that? She didn't want the ribbon... Well, there was no getting out of it now. If she didn't buy the ribbon, Maris would be sure to find out.
Managing a graceful exit, Lyn sighed and looked around, shading brown eyes with her free hand. She still needed to pick up some cheese, but she could get that on her way back home. There was nothing for it but to go to the market and find a ribbon. Yellow, she decided, if she could find one. It wouldn't stand out against her hair so much.
As she crossed the square, Lyn heard someone calling her name. Turning, Lyn saw Tobias running up to her, panting. "Lyn! It's Pa! He and Doan were in the woods getting some wood for Doan's work, and I don't know how it happened, but a tree fell on Pa, and Doan got it off, but Pa's hurt awful bad, and..."
"Where?" Lyn asked, all thoughts of ribbons driven out of her mind. "Show me."
Tobias had to gasp in a few lungfulls of air before he was able to straighten, roughly sweeping brown hair from his eyes. "C'mon, this way!" he said once he had recovered, taking off again. Lyn followed him through town, barely noticing when the town ended and the forest began.
They didn't go far into the forest; the sun still pierced the canopy with ease, and the forest was bright. Doan saw them coming and called Lyn over, showing her the injured Mahew. Panting, the girl knelt beside the man, looking him over.
There was a lot of blood, and his legs didn't look right at all. Lyn shook her head and didn't look any more. Right now, she had to keep him alive. The rest could wait.
"Mahew? I need you to relax. I'm going to heal you, don't fight me. You understand, Mahew?" Lyn said, resting her hands on his bloody chest.
"Yeah, go on, girl..." Mahew agreed, groaning a little.
It was so much easier when they gave permission... Lyn closed her eyes and focused within herself. To Doan and Tobias, she appeared to be glowing softly, and then the glow flowed out of her, into Mahew, who stiffened. His legs straightened a little, and most of the smaller cuts healed over, but there was a limit to what Lyn's tech could do. Unsatisfied with Mahew's chances, Lyn cast again, and then again, until all the visible cuts had closed up. Now drained, she slumped over the injured man, who was quietly succumbing to sleep.
"There... I can't... do any more. You might... wanna take him... to San Dorino..." she gasped.
Tobias pulled her off Mahew, thanking her. "We'll see about that. Mum and I, I mean."
"Sit there and rest. Tobias and myself'll build a travois for Mahew. You should be able to walk home then, right Lyn?" Doan took over.
Lyn blinked up at the man, brushing sweat-soaked green hair from her brow. "Yeah... Yeah, I'll be fine after I've rested a little..."
Doan and Tobias began working on the carrying frame, Doan talking as he worked. "You been in to see my Luke? How's he doing?" he asked, trying to choose a neutral topic. Not coincidentally, it was also something he was intensely interested in.
"He's fine. You can stop bandaging him tomorrow..." Lyn looked out into the forest, wondering when it had gotten so late. The sun would be down in a couple more hours. A flash of color caught her eye, but when she looked, there was nothing there. After a bit of thinking, she figured it must have been a bird, and focused on Doan's words again.
"...sure is good, knowing we don't have to worry about keeping the bandaging on Luke. He's been fighting us over it. Guess he doesn't like the feel..."
The travois didn't take very long to build, and Tobias was able to lift his father onto it with a minimum of difficulty. Doan said he'd pull Mahew, leaving Tobias to help Lyn back to her house. Once they got there, Shanda was told what happened. She promised she'd take care of Lyn, telling Tobias to run home and comfort his mother.
Shanda had helped her daughter through the exhaustion brought on by over using her tech before. First, she sat Lyn in front of some thick stew that had been simmering since the morning. When the bowl was empty, mother shooed daughter to bed. It had been a hard day, and Lyn would probably be wanted to heal Mahew until it was safe to take him to Dorino.
Shanda was proud of her daughter; there was no doubt about that. But it was hard on Lyn, the healing she did, there was no denying that. At an early age, the girl had seen many grave injuries. It didn't seem right, that a child had to see that, had to loose their innocence so young. But what else were they to do, way out here where they usually didn't have access to any of the more sophisticated healing methods? With such thoughts, Shanda cleaned up, then went to bed.
Please read and review! Next chapter in about a week