Here We Are

[Cora]

OOC: Occurs directly after the Masked Ball thread

Cora sat perched on the edge of Palladium's desk, her shoulders hunched forward slightly as she stared out the window across from her. There were no clouds that night and the moon was glistening in her entirety. With a tranquil sigh, Cora clasped her hands in her lap as she patiently waited for the reunion that she hadn't been able to stop thinking about since she had left two months earlier.

She had missed him. Desperately. Yes, she still had a few lingering romantic feelings for him, which by now she had accepted as something that would never leave her, but above all, she had missed her friend. He had always been in her life in some tangible form - in person or in letters. But when she had left to go on her path of self-discovery and fulfillment, she had vowed that he would be out of her life in every way until she could face coming back to him with no hard feelings.

That time had finally come.

Pulled out of her thoughts by the click of a doorknob turning, Cora felt sudden waves of nervous anticipation course through her body. This was it. Taking a deep breath, she rose to her feet and waited.

[Palladium]

Finding his office door unlocked, Palladium frowned as he stepped inside the room; he could have sworn that he had checked to make sure that it was locked before he had left to supervise the dance. But apparently not . . .

As his eyes began to adjust to the darkness of the room, illuminated only by a faint sliver of moonlight, Palladium turned and then nearly jumped backward in surprise at the figure standing before him. Stepping forward tentatively, as he tried to make out the person's shadowed features, Palladium froze when he heard a familiar small laugh. A smile breaking across his face, he asked for lack of anything more intelligible to say, "Cora?" Without hesitating for another moment, Palladium stepped forward and quickly enveloped her in a warm hug as he continued in a stunned voice, "Goodness, this is a surprise - a great one, though; but my only question is why didn't you write to tell me you were coming to visit? I would have made reservations for dinner or something so that we could catch up properly-"

[Cora]

Returning the hug, Cora smiled as she replied, "Oh, you know me; I'm full of surprises, Lenwë. I figured that it would be more fun if I showed up this way - and I was right. The look on your face was priceless when you realized that you weren't alone in here; god, it went from shock to horror to 'how the hell should I react' to 'wait a minute, I know this person' all in a matter of a couple seconds." Pausing for a moment to catch her breath, which was currently being cut off by Palladium's tight hug, she added almost as an afterthought, "And it's Coralie."

[Palladium]

Leaning back slightly, Palladium raised his eyebrows as he said, his voice tinged with confusion, "I don't understand; you're going by your full name now? I always thought that you hated it - you were, if my memory serves me correctly, the one who demanded that I call you 'Cora' and only 'Cora' when we first met." With a humorous smile, he finished, "So tell me, when did this change come about?"

[Cora]

Stepping out of his embrace, Cora lightly shrugged as she perched on the edge of his desk. "Let's just say I was in the mood for a little bit of change, shall we? I mean, when I was traveling through various realms I found myself wanting to reinvent who I am. I don't really know why, but I did. And so when I started meeting new people, I just began introducing myself as Coralie. And the more I did it, the more I liked it and it stuck." Waving her hand dismissively, she continued, "But enough about me; what about you? Any interesting developments in your life that you want to catch me up on?"

[Palladium]

Staring at Cora for a long moment, Palladium then said quietly, "You mean Flora, don't you?"

[Cora]

With a wistful smile, Cora nodded as she said, "Yes, yes I suppose I do."

Inwardly, however, Cora braced herself; this was it. This was the conversation she had been dreading for the past two months. Lenwë's feelings for Flora. As much as she wanted Lenwë to be happy, and even though whatever romantic notions she had had for him had been laid to rest, the name 'Flora' still made her cringe. She had nothing personal against the girl, it was simply that whenever she heard the name, she had a brief flashback to that terrible incident when Lenwë had accidentally called her by Flora's name. It had been a humiliating experience and it was definitely an event she preferred to file under the category of things to never be thought of again.

[Palladium]

Moving to sit beside her on his desk, Palladium twiddled his thumbs as he replied, "To be honest, there isn't much to be said. After you left . . . after you told me that if Flora was who made me happy then I should be with her . . . I don't know. I thought about what you said but I just couldn't act; I couldn't throw the rules to the wind. And so, for the last couple months, things between us have cooled down. I only speak to her in class and it's almost like nothing ever transpired between us. Except . . ."

[Cora]

"Except?" Cora gently prodded as she tilted her head to look at his downward cast face.

[Palladium]

For a moment Palladium hesitated and he looked almost as if he was going to brush aside his last comment as nothing. But then his shoulders sagged slightly and he answered quietly, "Except I spoke to her tonight at the masked ball." Seeing Cora's furrowed brow, he elaborated, "Tonight Alfea and Red Fountain hosted a dance because we figured the students deserved to have a little fun; they've been working so hard and the reports show that the average student performance is up five percent from last year. In any event, Flora was there, obviously, and she approached me and we talked for a little bit and it was . . . good. More than good. She made me laugh and for a while there, I almost felt as though I was a student myself. As though I actually had the right to speak to her so casually. But then I remembered that I was just a supervisor and . . . the end." With a sad smile, Palladium added, "So there's nothing else to be said on that topic."

[Cora]

Instinctively knowing that there was much more to the story than that, Cora opened her mouth to speak before she hesitated. As much as she wanted Lenwë to let her in on what he was going through, that had to be his choice - not hers. If he wanted to talk, he knew that she was there but right now he had that look. That look she had seen once before when his father had passed away. That look that said he either wanted to talk about something else other than the issue at hand or to be left alone.

With an inward sigh, Cora rose to her feet as she said, "Well, it's getting late, so I should probably head on back to the hotel. But we should do something tomorrow; lunch, maybe?"

[Palladium]

"All right then," Palladium replied, giving her a faint smile and a squeeze of her hand. As he watched Cora turn to leave, he said suddenly, "It's good to have you back, you know. I missed you."

[Cora]

Laughing softly, Cora nodded as she stepped out into the hallway. After a moment she answered simply, "I know, Lenwë."