Chapter Two
First Impressions

"… It's been over a week, but Mr. Loire woke up today. Very confused about what had happened, but I don't think he has any brain damage. Just a little fuzzy-minded from the painkillers. He's healing nicely, though …

… His eyes are the most beautiful shade of green. I realize that doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things, but this is my diary, and I just wanted to make a note of it, because I've never seen eyes that color before …

… Oh. And his name is Laguna …"
-- Raine's Diary

Laguna's first week in Winhill was uneventful. He slept soundly, having been dosed by Dr. Vinidi with some very strong painkillers, and he never once spiked a fever. Raine worried about his comatose state for a while, but the doctor assured her it was just his body's way of healing from such a massive amount of trauma.

She walked into his room the following Wednesday morning, fully expecting to find him still sleeping -- ready to take his temperature again, and check his vitals. To her surprise, he was awake. His eyes were open and he was looking around, confusion written all over his face. His face, which had healed quite nicely in the week that he'd been here. The bruises were no longer quite so vivid, and most of them were in the greenish-yellow stage now.

He had a nice face. Raine had noticed this a few days earlier, but only in passing. It was pleasant, kind. The face of a man who looked like he probably smiled a lot.

"Good morning," she said in a soft voice, so as not to startle him, and also, as sort of a test to see if his hearing had been damaged at all.

He turned to look at her and she smiled at him, crossing the room to stand at his bedside. Her smile faltered just a little when her eyes met his for the first time. His eyes were a vibrant shade of green that she had never seen before.

"Hi," she said to him, finding her voice. "How are you feeling today?"

"Sore," he admitted, grimacing.

Raine smiled sympathetically. "I'd imagine so," she said.

"Where … am I?" he asked, putting his hand to his head as if it hurt.

"Winhill," she told him.

"Win … hill," he repeated slowly. "Okay."

"It's on the Galbadian continent," she explained, "but it's pretty isolated. East of the Monterosa Plateau."

His eyes widened a little at that. "How did I … get here?"

Raine shrugged. "Good question," she said honestly. "You washed ashore about a week ago."

He closed his eyes, as if processing the new information. Then he opened them again and focused on her. "You've been taking care of me?" he asked. "Are you a doctor?"

"I'm just a nurse right now," she said quickly, shaking her head. "But I guess you could say I'm in training with Doctor Vinidi. And yes, I have been taking care of you," she replied, as she held up the thermometer. "Open your mouth, please."

He obliged, watching her as she worked. Now that he knew where he was … even if he didn't know how he'd ended up here … at least he could try to get to know the people who were kind enough to help him out.

So. The nurse. Laguna surmised that she was not what you would call beautiful in the classical sense of the word, but she was quite pretty. She had long dark hair and a delicately-featured face. Her eyes were a stormy shade of blue that Laguna associated with the sky after it rained.

The thermometer beeped then, and she pulled it out and read it. "Normal," she announced. She made a note on her clipboard. She turned back to him. "Do you remember anything about what happened to you?"

Laguna frowned thoughtfully. "I remember being somewhere in Esthar … we were lost, actually." He sounded a little sheepish as he admitted that. Raine bit back a smile. "But we were somewhere we definitely weren't supposed to be … Kiros, Ward, and I … hey, they aren't here, are they?"

"Your friends?" Raine asked, and Laguna nodded. She shook her head. "No, just you," she told him.

Disappointment clouded his features. "Oh. Well … I hope they're all right. We had to jump off a cliff to get away."

Raine's eyes widened. "What? You jumped off of a cliff? How … big a cliff?"

"I dunno, a hundred or so feet," Laguna continued, oblivious to Raine's incredulous stare. "I mean, it was either take our chances and stay and get killed by the Esthar soldiers, or jump down to where the boats were waiting. And I don't know if you know, but Esthar soldiers are not known for their hospitality. Trust me, dying from a high fall is preferable to the torture those guys dish out."

"You jumped off a cliff," Raine repeated, trying to discern whether or not she'd heard him right.

"But after that, it gets a little fuzzy. I guess I musta just drifted along till I ended up here," Laguna finished, ignoring Raine's previous statement.

"Do you jump off cliffs often, Mr. Loire?" she asked then.

He looked at her, blinking, as if he'd forgotten she was there. "What? No, of course not, that would be stupid."

Raine rolled her eyes and shook her head. Yeah, this man was certifiable. "Okay. So you made your 'great' escape from Esthar. And now you don't know what happened to your friends?"

His face fell. "No. Man, I hope they're all right. I don't know what I'd do if …"

"It's okay," Raine said. "I'll see what I can do about finding them for you, okay? What are their names?"

"Kiros Seagill and Ward Zabac," Laguna said.

"And what about you? What's 'L' stand for?" She handed him his dogtags.

"Laguna," he replied absently, taking the dogtags and running his fingers over the raised letters.

"Laguna Loire," she repeated quietly to herself, making another note on her chart. "Do you have a family I should get word to? A wife, or a girlfriend?"

Laguna shook his head. "Nope," he said breezily. Raine blinked in surprise. "What?" he asked, catching it.

"Oh, it's nothing. You just … you were asking for a Julia when you were brought in here. I guess I just assumed …"

Laguna's face became wistful. "Julia," he repeated. "Yeah, no she's not my … anything, really. Just someone I used to know." He sighed, and Raine realized that he had wished that Julia had been something more than that.

Without thinking, she reached out and squeezed his hand. Her eyes were earnest as she looked at him. "Look, I am really sorry about what's happened to you. And to end up here of all places … you'll quickly learn that there just is not much here in the way of … well, anything, really. But I'll do whatever I can to find your friends for you. I can't say when you'll be healed enough to leave, but I'll be here, every day. And if you need anything at all, just let me know."

Laguna smiled then, tentatively, and Raine couldn't help but grin back. "Well, then, what should I call you?" he asked her, a slightly mischievous glint in his eyes. "Nurse?"

"Oh, Hyne, don't you dare," Raine groaned. "My name is Raine."

"Raine what?" he asked, eager as a little kid.

"Leonhart."

He smiled. "That's nice." He closed his eyes then, and Raine took it as her cue to leave.

"You need to rest. I'll be around later to check on you, okay? If you need anything, my phone number is right here." She tore a piece of paper off her notepad and set it down by the phone.

"Thank you," he said sleepily.

Raine smiled at him, even though his eyes were closed. She was happy to find that he was a very nice man, albeit a little crazy. And she'd enjoyed talking to him very much. "I'm glad you're finally awake," she told him truthfully.

If she'd known what the next weeks had in store for her, she never would have said any such thing.