Office Hours - September 1

[bigdamnprincipal]

The month of August had passed far too quickly for Zoe, but her paperwork pile hadn't gotten that much bigger this morning, so she was going to put the day in the "win" category anyway. She was trying to tackle her work without letting herself get distracted by e-mail or the telephone.

[Door and post are open!]

Comments

[onlymistaken]

If Cally lingered in the corridor outside the office for a moment longer than she strictly needed to, it wasn't because she feared talking to those in authority.

Just what they might say.

Eventually, though, she knocked at the frame once, using the breath to make sure she remembered the correct form of address. "Principal Winchester?"

[bigdamnprincipal]

Zoe was holding a piece of paper in her mouth as she alphabetized yet another file, but she managed to pull it out as soon as she heard the knock. "Yes? Hi there, can I help you?"

[onlymistaken]

"I hope so, very much." Cally took a few steps inside, sparing only enough glance to the room itself to make sure she wasn't interrupting a conversation with anyone else, before returning her attention to the woman's face. "My name is Cally; I am listed as a student here, but I'm not supposed to be here."

[bigdamnprincipal]

Zoe had been hoping there wouldn't be any students like this this semester, but she really should have known better. "What do you mean, you're not supposed to be here?" she asked, even though she was fairly certain she already knew the answer.

[onlymistaken]

"I was in a space accident." Or perhaps it wasn't, but what was she to call it? "My shuttle was caught in an energy field - I was afraid it would be pulled apart before I could escape - then I found myself outside the lounge where your students were waiting to be picked up."

[bigdamnprincipal]

"I see," Zoe said. "And when you arrived at the school, we were prepared for you? With a roommate and all?"

[onlymistaken]

Cally wasn't sure whether to be relieved or worried by that question. How often did things like this happen?

"Yes. A room, classes, a school-assigned 'sibling.' Everything."

[bigdamnprincipal]

Zoe sighed softly and set her paperwork aside. "Feel free to have a seat, if you'd like," she said. "You're not the first person this has happened to. We've had quite a few students who didn't expect to be here, but who were expected nonetheless. I wish I could say I understand how it happens, but I don't."

[onlymistaken]

"I don't understand." Which was probably the most redundant thing she could say at the moment, but she was expending most of her higher brain functions on the task of making it over to the chair in front of the desk. "How can you not know? And more importantly, how do I get home from here?"

[bigdamnprincipal]

"Believe me, I wish I knew everything about this place, but I don't," Zoe admitted. "I assume you've been told about some of the strange things that happen here? I would give anything to have the answers for how everything works, but there are times that I'm just as confused as you all, and this is one of them. All I can figure is that for some reason, you're supposed to be here. Maybe you're supposed to learn something, or meet people, or...I don't know, and I know that isn't much of a comfort at all." If it seemed like she was avoiding Cally's last question...well, that might have been true.

[onlymistaken]

"You're talking like there's some..." Cally didn't know either. Destiny? Higher beings controlling this place? "I'm supposed to be on my own planet, hundreds of years in your future, letting my sister know I'm not dead. I haven't even found a way to contact home, let alone get there."

[bigdamnprincipal]

"I can tell you that in all my years of being here, no one has ever gotten permanently stuck," Zoe said confidently. Surely, the island would never be that cruel. "You will get home again, but I'll be honest with you, I don't know when that will happen." This was one of her least favorite parts of this job, for sure. "Many people have figured out ways to contact home even when home is far in the future. You might want to speak to some of the other students with cell phones - I think some of them have found ways to tweak them for special use."

Zoe sighed softly. "I'm very sorry. I know how it feels to be separated from your family, I really do."

[onlymistaken]

That the sympathy was genuine made it harder to deal with, in a way, more real. It was too much to wrap her mind around: that she might be here indefinitely, but indefinitely wouldn't be forever, just... indefinite. All Cally could pull up right now was a dull, weightless feeling, like she'd not escaped the shuttle after all, and was floating untethered in space.

"My entire race. We're telepaths; there's always someone's voice in my mind, but now it's just...silent." Cally shook her head, politeness taking hold where sense failed her. "I'm sorry; I do appreciate your help. It's just a lot to take in."

[bigdamnprincipal]

Zoe's first instinct was to think Cally was lucky to not have anyone else's voices in her head anymore, but she knew enough to not say anything, figuring from Cally's tone that it wasn't a good thing as far as she was concerned. "I'm sorry I don't have any better answers," she said. "There might be others in your position, ones who haven't come to talk to me. There's always at least one every time we get new folks. It gets easier to deal with being here after a little while, especially if you try to make some friends."

[onlymistaken]

Better, as Ben had agreed, than what she'd expected when the shuttle began to break up. Here, she could learn things and meet people she would have had no chance to know on Auron. Given the choice, she would not have left without Zelda, but she might have come here, for a time.

Ten years from now, she might be prepared to accept all of that with more composure than a stiff back and a blank face as she stood up. Now, she was sixteen, and she told herself those things and wondered when she would believe them. "Thank you. For telling me; it's something, at least, to have an answer."

[bigdamnprincipal]

"You're welcome," Zoe said, although she didn't feel like she'd done much of anything to be thanked for. "If there's anything I can do to help you adjust in the future, don't hesitate to come and see me. I'll do my best for you."