Lydia Branagan
Information
Name	Lydia Branagan
Species	Elf
Gender	Female
Born	14 AGE Pyrrhic Coast (en route to Bluebell Island, Magnifloria)
World	Asleep Universe
Occupation	Doctor (36 AGE - )
Native language	New Boreal

Lydia Branagan (née Glasleigh, 14 AGE - ) is the junior doctor in the infirmary of the Ducal Palace at New Atlantis. Here, she works alongside Meriandra, specialising in counselling, but also curing diseases and healing other physical ailments.

Appearance

As a child and a teenager, Lydia was a thin, somewhat scrawny elf who usually paid little attention to her own physical appearance. Her long, blonde hair was usually kept untied (and sometimes even unwashed), and most of her clothes were hand-me-downs with holes in them. As a result, she was often called 'ugly' and 'messy'; however, she believed things would be no different if she put more effort in, so she didn't bother.

As Lydia entered adulthood, and began work in the infirmary, she did start paying more attention to self-care. With the exception of a green emerald spider necklace, her outfits were usually plain and unfussy - but they were at least clean, and she bought some new dresses to replace her worn-out ones.

Still, on the rare occasions when she did dress up for banquets and dances, Lydia showed that she knew how to be attractive. Her favourite outfit was a jet-black dress - which, according to Kyle and Cassandra, really suited her.

Personality

As a child and a teenager, Lydia is a very quiet girl, who tends to shy away from social contact of any kind. Sadly, this is a direct consequence of the bullying and abuse that she has received at the hands of her peers, as well as the usual difficulties of growing up as an orphan. She found it immensely challenging to make friends - and instead, she preferred to stay in her own bedroom and read books. This, at least, allowed her to perform well in her school lessons, and equipped her with the knowledge she needed to train as a doctor.

Occasionally, the young Lydia would attempt to confront her issues by using confidence potion. She didn't take these very often (since they were quite expensive); however, when she did, she could be persuasive and forceful in an argument - and she'd stand up fiercely for the few true friends she had.

As an adult, Lydia finally conquered her confidence issues, and learned how to stand up for herself. However, she remained quiet and reserved: she always shied away from parties, instead preferring her own company, and that of her family and close friends.

Relationships

Conor - Lydia's cousin, and closest friend. During the early years of her life, they didn't see one another very often: he grew up in Light Kingdom, while she was raised first in Lennart Kingdom, then in New Atlantis. However, when she was 10 years old, Conor moved to New Atlantis - and, being the only two elves there, they instantly bonded. Conor became Lydia's main mentor, helping her with her homework, and teaching her to stand up to bullies (and doing it herself when she lacked the confidence to do so). While his military commitments prevented him from spending as much time with her as he would have liked, he always made sure to visit her at least once a day whenever possible, to check that she was coping with her numerous struggles.

After Conor moved away to Glasleigh Kingdom, he was no longer able to see Lydia on a daily basis. However, they always wrote to each other at least once a week - and visited each other at least once a month.

Aliana - Lydia's oldest real friend, who has known her since the age of three. Aliana was never as close to her as Conor was (as to her, she was simply one friend among many); however, she was one of the first to try and assist with her bullying issues. Admittedly, most of Aliana's methods were ineffective (for example, she once got Lydia to smear honey over her face to ward off 'boy waves'); however, her heart was in the right place, and to Lydia, that was all that mattered.

As they matured into their teenage years, Aliana and Lydia became busier, and grew apart somewhat. However, she did help Lydia to choose her new clothes when she replaced her wardrobe, and even paid for half of the new dresses - so, they hadn't forgotten one another entirely.

Kyle - In the main timeline, Kyle and Lydia never became close friends. She would sometimes treat him when he needed to go to infirmary; however, that was the full extent of their interactions.

However, in the alternate 'Another Childhood' timeline, Kyle and Lydia became much closer. Kyle was sent to New Atlantis shortly before the fall of Lennart Kingdom (and subsequent death of his father during his last stand). Like Lydia, Kyle was now an orphan, who had lost his father and been abandoned by his mother - and this shared experience brought them together. For years, they would turn to each other to comfort one another over their struggles with bullying - and they became such close friends that they were the only people allowed into each other's rooms. Eventually, as they grew older, they fell in love, and became boyfriend and girlfriend. From here, they became regular dance partners - and the two of them would often charm and impress the castle with their complex artistic dancing manoeuvres.

Story

Like most elves, Lydia was supposed to be born on Bluebell Island, in the Kingdom of Magnifloria. However, she instead arrived a week and a half before her due date... while her parents were still on the boat that was taking them there. Perhaps this was a harbinger of the tragedy and misfortune that was to befall Lydia over the following years (she herself certainly thought so).

For the first two years of her life, Lydia was cared for in Lennart Kingdom by her parents: the wealthy knight Sir Marwyn, and the aspiring entrepreneur Floria. Sadly, this proved a tough job for both of them: Lydia was a troublesome and unruly baby, and they responded by disciplining her firmly. However, at the age of two, Lydia's world was turned upside-down, when she received the devastating news that her father had been slain in battle. For the next year, her grief-stricken mother tried her best to balance her fruit drinks business with doing the work of two parents - but, in the end, she found it was simply too much. She took her daughter to New Atlantis, so that she could be cared for by Duke Nestor and his wife Cassandra (whom she knew from their days of selling fruit and drinks in the Lennart Castle market).

Sadly, Lydia's childhood years were incredibly difficult. Her father was dead; her mother didn't love her; Nestor was even more of a brutish disciplinarian than Sir Marwyn had been; and the young merboys and mergirls tended to bully her (as she was the castle's only Elvish child). The only people who showed any empathy at all were Nestor's wife Cassandra, her oldest daughter Aliana, and her older cousin Conor (who arrived at New Atlantis when she was 10 years old). Sadly, Cassandra was usually busy looking after her own children, while Conor was occupied for most of the day by his military duties. Therefore, Lydia was often left to fend for herself - and, whenever Aliana wasn't around, other children would simply target and abuse her - often by framing her for their own actions. This happened so often that she soon began to believe that these things really were her fault - along with all the other unfortunate events in her life.

During her teenage years, however, things did begin to improve gradually. After the fallout from an abusive relationship with a young military cadet who simply wanted to take advantage of her, Conor took it upon himself to mentor her so that she wouldn't land herself in such trouble again. He began teaching her how to avoid these situations before they became dangerous - and so, she eventually began to stand up for herself more often. She also heeded his advice to begin training as a doctor - and, after three years of hard work, she finally qualified, and began providing life-saving aid to the people of New Atlantis. This work taught her that not everything was her fault (some patients simply don't make it), and she began to be a little less hard on herself. However, her confidence issues still hadn't vanished entirely: despite her best efforts, she still sometimes reverted to her old ways of blaming herself, particularly in uncomfortable or unusual situations.

When Lydia was 25 years old, Princess Aliana married her husband Kyle. Despite her childhood closeness to Aliana, Lydia had planned to skip the celebrations: she wished stay at work in the infirmary. However, when a young Elvish soldier named Bruce showed up at the castle without a dance partner, Meriandra introduced him to Lydia. Reluctantly, she agreed to go down to the Great Hall and dance with him. However, she was very glad she did: he was able to relax his nervous partner, and the two bonded very quickly. Indeed, four months later, Bruce and Lydia got married themselves - albeit in a small ceremony with only a few close friends and no dancing. For the first nine years of marriage, Bruce and Lydia remained child-free, in order to focus on their respective careers; however, they eventually had a son (named Conor Jr), and a daughter (named Allie, after Lydia's childhood friend Aliana).

Thanks to Bruce and her two children, Lydia has fully conquered the confidence issues that plagued her during her youth. She now works as a counsellor, aiding those who are fighting similar demons today.

Trivia

Lydia speaks three languages: New Boreal, Novoatlantean, and Modern Archonian.

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