[h2][color=pink]Lyn[/color][/h2]

It felt wonderful in Lyn’s mind to have her father’s arms wrapped about her. His warmth, touch, scent and sound brought her the greatest comfort as she tried to crush him back. Though hug seemed odd since he only had one hand, his other tapered off into a stump, making her curious about what happened. She resisted the temptation to hold it close to her face and examine it, her curiosity still nagging at her even when the hug ended.   

Lyn gave a sheepish grin as she pulled from her father’s embrace, her eyes brightened at the gentle nickname. She was happy to see her parents both alright, though not in one piece. However, something nagged at her. She noted something wasn’t right with her mother, there no sight of her usual strength and slowly a dark and weary feeling spread from her core. A foreboding of sorts. She didn’t like it in the least, though her thoughts were interrupted when she felt herself picked suddenly by Alaira. Reflexively  her hands rested on the half elf’s shoulder followed by the comforting pat on her head and soothing words. Though how true those words were, Lyn had doubts. Something had hurt her mother but the way to fix it was something strange to her and likely beyond her knowledge, at least the child thought. 

Being placed on her mother’s bed, Lyn’s hand touched Mar’s to give a comforting touch. What happened next was something that only shocked the child causing her face to pale with worry and concern. Mother’s hand shifted away from under hers and merely folded onto the other. Naturally she looked to the only two people that might realize how important that small, mild gesture was. Tyrael and her dad, the later flinching in pain from Alaira’s hand gripping his stump. 

He couldn’t help her and she didn’t know how to fix it. Not when her mom was drawing inward into a depression and pain, preventing her from healing it.  

It didn’t matter. The moment her Uncle arrived, his figure leapt onto the balcony and strolled toward them, Alaira became tensed.  She twitched at Uncle Tyrael as she stood, pushing to block his way. When her hand pushed him back, Lyn gave a confused and panicked squeal. In the background, she noted Sam and Lidda, the latter trying to keep patch up literally half a student before he bled out and became a corpse, tense up. Their eyes watched the scene occurring between the pair and seemed ready to leap in should a blood bath happen. 

Normally it was her mother that would’ve stopped the fighting but instead it was her father. 

He was sharp which made Lyn jump, never having heard him like that before. Her fingers tightened upon the flower she had been holding this whole time and squeezed it, drawing precious comfort from it. She hated seeing her family bickering as she tried to keep small, salty tears out of her eyes. The plant painfully slowly started to brush her hand gently as if sensing her fretting and wanted to mend it. Even when her father tried to mend things, it seemed to be worse. Her eyes were blurry with tears while her heart felt close to breaking, her mind confused and unsure what to do. Part of her wanted to dart from the infirmary to find a hiding place their hatred couldn’t reach. 

For two people who cared so much for her, it seemed her own feelings didn’t matter much. She was only a child after all.  Her face softened when her father, still chiding the two adults, smiled at her and the flower. She nodded to answer her dad’s suspicions, quickly hopping off the bed without wasting much time then moved carefully to the pair. It was a mistake to. Lyn recoiled at the anger wafting over the scene as if physically burned her. Her head turned to watch her Uncle leave and turned to Alaira, finally back to her mother know she couldn’t do anything. 


[h2]Lidda[/h2]
 

At Tyrael’s mention, Lidda had just finished up her work and was hovering closer. Her back had delicate little wings, dragonfly from the look of them, that buzzed loudly. She wafted close before landing right in wake of his exit route, putting her hands on her hips. So much for her next request she thought, bitterly. Knowing he was going be distracted for a while, she noted Lyn’s miserable state and her heart melted. Immediately she shank down to Lyn’s level, taking several minutes, during her attempt to sooth the girl. “I know something you’ll like, a sweet toffee.” 

Without wasting much time, she pulled one out and handed to her. “Eat that, it will make you feel better.” 

Alaira sat down, relaxing after she put words in Althalus’ mouth, and petted Lyn’s head. The little girl turned to the half elf with teary eyes while she clenched the flower and candy. It was clear the girl wasn’t sure what to do since the fight as she hadn’t even touched the candy.  

Lidda sighed, her yellow cat eyes lingered on the child for a moment, then continued. “When you two are done putting words in each other’s mouths, I can start to work on Althalus. At least unless you want Lyn checked first. If Lucilia has been using experimental elixirs, there could be side effects with that and longer term consequences since she’s a hybrid. Far as we know, she could’ve blocked her mageblood completely.” 

The teacher didn’t bother to chide Alaira on how cruel both them were being to Lyn, mainly since it wouldn’t do anything. Instead she let the child’s appearance speak for itself and mindful of where Alaira sat, she moved over to Althalus and gently gesture for his hand. When he lifted it up she looked it over more carefully than Alaira had handled it. “I might suggest, Alaira, and this is more a request, not to manhandle any future mangled limbs. You ended up accidentally tearing the flesh around the edges. Makes it a bit more work for me but at least you didn’t hurt a tendon end, else his fingers might’ve been affected. Vitamancy is amazing but even it has its limitations I’m afraid.”  

She let go for a moment, hovering to gain a herb from the shelf. “I can regrow Althalus’ hand. It’s much easier than the last guy’s hips and legs after all which took a few days. It will take a few hours rather than a full day, and painful. I rather not have Lyn sticking around for the process because I don’t think she would let Althalus hold her again, let alone touch her,  out of fear. Not a child friendly sight really.”