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The Crystal Rule	By : QueenDraggyofSwords Category: Final Fantasy Games > Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Views: 956 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy: chrystal Chronicles, any of its characters nor am I making any profit off of them.

Chapter List
- 24
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- 26
Chapter Twenty Five

Help Lyra with the Laundry.
What a bizarre idea.
Keiss walked along the grounds of the ranch looking for Layle's mother. How was he supposed to 'help' with laundry? Don't you just…toss it into the machine and walk away? He sighed as he circled the house looking for the Clavat woman. He finally found her out back filling up a large metal bin with soapy water.
She looked up and smiled, "Keiss! …Where are Constance and Layle?"
"At the General Store I guess…" The Selkie crossed his arms and watched her. "What are you doing?"
"Getting ready to wash clothes. I figured I had enough now. I can get yours and Layle's things washed and mended before tomorrow."
Keiss watched as she moved from that bin to a second one and started to pour fresh water in to it. He took note that next to the first metal bin there was a large paddle of sorts and a board with metal ridges on it. "…Uh…Lyra…What are you doing?"
She stopped working, "I told you, Keiss, the laundry. I need someone to stir then rinse and wring it out…"
"…Why don't you just…put it in a machine?"
The woman chuckled at him, "Keiss…I don't have a machine. We do it by hand. Everyone out here does."
The Selkie stared at her and started to shake his head. By hand? Doing laundry by hand… he was going to kill Layle for saddling him with this.

Keiss wasn't even sure where his partner had gone. But he wanted to strangle him. What was taking Layle so long? The Selkie twisted his lips as he lazily stirred the freshwater and the clothing Lyra dumped into it after she was done washing it. What an absurd way to do things. Why not just buy a washing machine. She clearly had the money for it. And they had electricity. Doing laundry by hand…
"And when you're done rinsing it, wring it out and set it in the basket…"
"Okay…"Keiss sighed. Yep, this sucked. The Selkie looked over at Lyra as the woman inspected Layle's jacket. She was complaining under her breath about how it was missing some chainmail links. And it wasn't very thick. Keiss half smirked as he watched her fuss over it. The woman was clearly worried about Layle. More so than he was. He watched as Lyra dumped the jacket into the water and started to wash it.
"…If you're worried so much…" Keiss looked down at the clothing he was supposed to be rinsing, "Why did you let him leave?"
Lyra shrugged at him as she added more clothing to the wash, "It would have been impossible to keep him here anyway. Layle's always been-" She hesitated, "Trouble. Not that I don't love having him around…but he has never sat still or done what he was told or listen to me from the start. He always, always, did it his way first. Even if that meant a broken arm, or a skinned up leg, or getting stuck in a tree…He just. It would be impossible to ask him to stay here."
Keiss watched the look on her face, even though she was smiling, he felt as if Lyra was drifting away from the conversation. Her mind was elsewhere. Maybe this was depressing to talk about? The Selkie cleared his throat and went back to work. Though, now he was feeling that urge to keep talking. A few words there, slip a question out here…He could get a lot of information in a one on one conversation. But he did his best to resist.
However Lyra started talking again, "I suppose it's my own fault, he's like that," She dumped the next batch of clothing into the rinse. "James says it is anyway…He's probably right. Telling a little boy with magical powers stories about how to hunt monsters and what the edges of the continent look like only …Filling his head with desires to see it all for himself."
"Well," Keiss chuckled, "He really is adventurous. But aren't most kids? You can't blame yourself for Layle being the most stubborn person in the world." The Selkie fished out the clothes and dumped them into the basket next to him. "Besides, don't most boys want to be like their father?"
Lyra stopped washing clothes. Keiss looked over at her and she stared at him. He mentally kicked himself, he wasn't supposed to dig. "Sorry. Sorry, Uh…I just…mean, you know, you talked about your husband being a Monster Hunter and uh-"
"Oh, no!" Lyra shook her head, "My-my husband isn't Layle's father." She turned her attention back to her work. But Keiss did not. He watched her, and she must have felt his eyes on her because Lyra sighed and turned her head. "Yes?"
"I'm…I'm sorry…" Keiss shrugged, "I mean…You know…I figured, that was…Uh…the case. I was just…not expecting you to say it. I mean, you're a very…Put together woman, Lyra. Pretty stable. Dependable. It's just, I wasn't expecting you to just…say that. So plainly."
The woman leaned back and removed the last of the clothing and dumped it into Keiss' bin. "You figured it out on your own, huh?"
"Well," The Selkie shrugged, "You've got photos all over your house. There is never one of You, Dale and Layle together…And there is a big gap of time between the ones of you and Layle and you and your husband…So. Yeah I figured…It was probably something like that."
The woman sat down and started to help Keiss rinse the clothes. "You're pretty observant, you know that?"
Keiss chuckled but it felt awkward, "I kind of have to be for my line of work…"
Lyra sighed, "I'm not really fond of your line of work. It's dangerous…and when I think of Layle doing those things, I admit, I become fearful. But like I said, I can't keep him here…Every Clavat is meant to do something that changes the world. With a power like Layle's, I don't think he'd find that thing here."
"Excuse me?" Keiss leaned forward and let his hands soak in the water.
"…Our Crystal Rule… Of the Clavat Tribal Crystal? Like, the Lilties promised them victory over their foes. The Selkies are promised all the world's riches…Clavats are promised, no matter how small we are, every one of us will do something that changes the world." She nodded, "Wouldn't you agree, Layle's not going to do that around here?"
Keiss nodded, "I suppose that's true…"
"So then, even if I don't like it…I have to let him go. I'm sure he'll be alright out there. Even if Mercenary work is dangerous."
Keiss twisted his lips, "So…Was he a Mercenary too?"
"…Who?"
"Layle's Father."
"Oh!" Lyra shrugged, "I don't know. I don't know anything about him." Keiss' jaw dropped. He really was not expecting that. He continued to watch her rinse the clothing. Eventually she looked back up at him confused. "Yes?"
"I- I just…I wasn't…quite ready for that." The Selkie shook his head, "That's really not a line you hear from someone like you, you know? That you don't know anything about your son's father…"
Lyra chuckled, "I suppose that does sound bad, but I don't know anything about Layle's mother either." Lyra watched Keiss face contort out of confusion, and she laughed a bit. "What?"
"L-lyra…You're Layle's mother…You kno- you know that right?"
The Clavat woman nodded, "I am. I know…I guess what I should say is, I don't know anything about his biological parents." The woman leaned back and flicked the water off her hands. "I mean, your observant…you have to have noticed, everyone in Denthe has brown or black hair and brown, green or black eyes, yes? Of course you have…But Layle is blond haired and blue eyed. Like his parents were."
Keiss watched her as she pulled out the last of the rinse and started to wring it out.
"I will never forget," The woman leaned back and looked up at the sky, "The day I met them. It was at the Annual Crystal Festival. It's held every year on the other side of the mountain. Out near the Fum Fields. Clavats from all over the region come to trade crops and goods and stories…Even though the Tribal Crystal is in Rebena Te Ra, The Fum Fields are the most plentiful in the region. A Symbol of Clavat hard work and pride…"
Keiss watched her as she picked up the basket of clothing and started to walk away. She motioned for him to follow her. "Dale and I used to go together every year after we were married. We made a good amount off of the birds, not to mention I always brought home vegetables from Fum. They just taste better. But after he died, I hadn't gone in… About four years. Finally one year, James convinced me to go with him. So I did."
Lyra led him around to a clothes line and set the basket down. She started to hang up the clothing, smiling as she told her story. "That's where I met them. A beautiful young couple. They had a stand of fresh produce…A young woman and her husband. Newlyweds, they said they were. And she was pregnant with their first child. She had... Long, lovely, curly, blond hair and he had blue eyes. They just- sparkled when he laughed. They had a stand down the way form where I was selling Chocobos." The woman sighed, "And every day I would stop and get produce from them…They said they were from a village along the mountain side. And this was their first year selling produce at the Festival."
Lyra scooped up the basket and moved to the next line. Keiss followed her, curious and wanting to ask questions, but just remained silent.
"The day before the end of the Festival I walked past their stand and it was empty…But all their produce was there. There was a little sign saying 'Be back soon, please just leave gil on the table!'" The Selkie chuckled at that point, only Clavats would anticipate people to be that honest. Lyra turned to look at him and he bit his lip. "…Anyway…They never came back to the stand. I walked past it again and again…Eventually other people just started taking the fruit for themselves. Waste not, want not, I suppose."
"So I too, decided I should get a box. But I would at least leave them some gil. Unfortunately, I waited until the end of the day…And most of the good stuff was gone. So many vegetables and fruit picked over and left. I was going to give up until I found a crate of Triangle Squash left untouched. So I decided I would take that one…And when I lifted it up…It moved." At this point the woman turned to Keiss and smiled. "And I don't mean it shifted or the fruit made it move, no I mean it jumped. It lurched forward in my hands and nearly dragged me a few feet. So I let it go. And it dropped."
"I was terrified. I thought maybe it was a monster or something. Like a ghost pulling the crate…So I kicked it this time. And it jumped again. But this time I saw what it was…A, light. A blue light, made the box jump followed by a sound like a laugh…" Lyra turned back around and picked up the next piece of clothing. "So I started to dig into the squash and found they weren't that deep. In fact, half the crate was taken up by an upside down basket. ..And under the basket, that's where he was."
Keiss tilted his head as Lyra continued.
"He was just…in it. All wrapped up, probably just about a year old. This little boy, with blue eyes and blond hair. And…on his right cheek, just the tiniest, tiniest crack of what looked like a crystal taking shape. And he just- looked at me. Like was some sort of odd creature. I'm sure I looked at him the same way…And when I tried to pick him up, I moved. Well…I was tossed. He tossed me, with his blue light. Every time I tried to get close it would wrap around the crate and I would get tossed."
She turned to Keiss and shrugged. "I didn't know what to do. So I sat down next to him and waited. Eventually James came looking for me. And after hearing what I had to say he set out to find the couple…"
"…He never did, did he?" Keiss asked her. And she nodded.
"We looked all night. But they were gone. And worse, everyone who had seen them had a different story of where they were from or what their names were. So by night fall, James had resolved that we would take the baby to the Missionaries from the Monastery. They had plenty of experience raising Crystal Bearers at the Orphanage. However…All night, I kept him with us. And he slept right next to me…I guess he got used to me being there finally. And in the morning, he even let me hold onto him."
"And that's when I discovered why they left him…He was too, expressive. And everything he did made something happen. He would laugh, and the Chocobos would be flipped on their sides. If he fussed the chairs and tables moved. And if he cried, everyone around me was jerked this way and that. …It was a lot to handle, and he was only with me for the morning. But when he was calm…It was like I was floating. Sometimes I think I was."
"I took him to the Missionaries…And they said they would take care of him. They would try to put a name to exactly way his power was…Thought it was so strange to have a Crystal Bearer so young. There was just, no way to get him to control his powers…And as I went to hand him over. The Missionary was pushed away."
"He shoved them back?" Keiss almost felt like the question was stuck in his throat he hadn't spoken for a good ten minutes.
"No." Lyra shook her head. "I did. I pushed them away, and ran. I ran away…James was livid! He told me to take him back right away. And that he would have nothing to do with me keeping a kid that could toss me through my own roof."
The woman smirked, "But by the end of the week I had James helping me nail down my furniture and building me a crib. And by the end of the month he was responding to his name as if that had been it all along. Isn't that right, Layle?"
Keiss turned around to see his partner leaning over one of the clothes lines with a frown. "Damn it, Lyra, are you still telling that lie about you found me in a box?"
"It was a crate of Trangle Squash."
"Don't listen to her, Keiss." The Selkie froze. For some reason he had started slinking away. He turned back around and smiled at Layle, "She just doesn't want to admit she had a random drunken one night stand."
"Layle, is that anyway to talk to me?" Lyra crossed her arms. "I swear, you have been trouble since the day I brought you home. If you weren't hurt, I'd hit you across the head for that remark."
The Crystal Bearer shrugged, but smiled a bit at the same time. "Lyra we'll finish this, why don't you go rest?" The woman frowned but agreed it was the least Layle could do after openly mocking her. But she stressed he would 'get it' later. As soon as she was gone Layle glared across the lines at Keiss. "You just can't help yourself, can you?"
"L-look…Layle…It's not like I- purposely…She just started telling me…I'm sorry."
Clockwork poked her head up from where she had been ducking down while Lyra was present, "I for one thought it was a touching story. And so true of the Crystal Rule. Lyra is a very devote woman."
Keiss pointed angrily at her and glared at Layle, "What the hell is this!"
"Well, it looks like were both doing things the other doesn't approve of today," The Crystal Bearer shrugged.
"Relax," The Lilty smiled. "I'm here to help you today."
"Oh yes!" Keiss crossed his arms, "Like how you helped last time. When you tried to kill us! Layle, did you forget that or something?"
"Keiss, let's just save the threats for later, just hear her out, okay?" The Crystal Bearer scoped up the basket and frowned at his partner, "It's the least you owe me after interrogating my mother."
"It's not like I told her to tell me…" The Selkie frowned but followed. He hadn't meant to get Lyra to tell him that story. It just sort of happened. He cursed his luck again. Not because he had gotten caught digging for information, but because the information only left him with more questions for Layle.
Ones he knew weren't going to be answered any time soon.
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The Crystal Rule