xp_logs | Nathan and Sooraya, backdated to Sunday morning

Backdated to Sunday morning. Sooraya packs the last of her things in preparation for moving into the mansion. Nathan reassures her, and also tells her how much being able to help her has meant to him. Teaching and learning, with these two, is a two-way street.

Sooraya was moving again. Granted, this time is was just to the big house, which wasn't that far away - she could see it from the boathouse window. But even that expanse of lawn seemed like another ocean; she would be sharing a room with another girl, living with boys and girls and taking classes and trying to adjust to life as a student. Yet another unexpected turn in her life that both excited and scared her. She was determined to put on a brave face, however, and was currently folding her many pairs of clothes so that they could be transported to her new room.

"Your future roommate is going to be a fortunate person," Nathan said from the doorway, smiling down at Sooraya. He had been upstairs, lying down for a bit - yet another headache, and for a while there light hadn't been a pleasant idea, much less actual movement. He kept his words slow and clear as he went on. "So many of the other students are untidy."

Sooraya looked up and smiled shyly. "I have not had so many things before. I hope there is room for all them in the new room."

"The rooms are quite large," Nathan reassured her, leaning against the doorframe. "You would have to accumulate..." He paused, a twinkle in his eye as he watched her blink at the new word, "much more in the way of possessions before there would not be enough room."

"Oh, good." Sooraya breathed out, relieved. Smoothing her hands over her clothes in a reassuring gesture, she smiled again at Nathan. "I think I am ready. But..."

"But?" he asked very gently, tilting his head at her.

"But... I will miss here. I will miss you and Rachel and Dr. Moira," the girl said, ducking her head. "It will be strange to be at a new place again."

Nathan stepped forward into the room, closer to Sooraya. "~You're not going very far,~" he said softly, switching to Dari. "~And trust me... if you think that you'll see much less of any of us simply because you're living in the big house, you'll be pleasantly surprised.~" He smiled almost whimsically. "~I would miss practicing your English with you over a meal too much to stop doing it on a regular basis.~"

"~I feel that I will be a stranger once again... I am worried,~" she murmured. It was a testament to how much she trusted him that she even voiced these thoughts, even if she couldn't look up at him when she said them. Her fingers tangled in the neatly-folded tunic on her lap, and she worried her bottom lip as she sat there.

Nathan took a deep breath and let it out before he came over and knelt down in front of her, so that they were almost at eye-level. "~I know,~" he said gently. "~You've adapted to so much already, Sooraya. And you've done it well, and cheerfully, and I'm so very proud of you. But it's a... process that continues.~"

"~I could not have done it without your help. You have done so much for me.~" Sooraya peeked a quick glance at him, her eyes dark and round.

If it wouldn't have shocked her senseless, he would have hugged her. Oh, the urge... "~It's been a joy to help you,~" he said, a comment that sounded far less cheesy in Dari than it would have in English. "~And you've helped me, too, Sooraya.~" His gray eyes lingered on her face, turning contemplative. "~More than you realize, I think.~"

"~I have?~" Looking curious and confused, Sooraya began to chew on her lip again. "~How?~"

Nathan looked down for a moment, trying to think of a way to put this that wouldn't shock or confuse her. "~I've told you that my powers are broken,~" he finally said, looking back up at her. "~It's been... hard. There are a lot of things I haven't told you about my life before I came to the school.~"

That was true, he hadn't, but it didn't bother Sooraya. After all, he had brought her into his home after rescuing her. "~That is all right. You do not have to...~"

And he wasn't going to. But there were a few things that he did need to tell her. Or wanted to tell her. "~I spent a long time thinking that my powers were the only worthwhile thing about me. You remember me telling you that I knew what it was like, not to be free?~" He paused, closing his eyes for a moment as he tried to find the right words. "~When things changed, for me, there was a part of me that still valued the good I could do with my powers more than anything else. I felt like I had to use them in the right ways, to help people, but I... didn't value the other good I could do enough, I think.~" Nathan looked up at her with a warm smile. "~You taught me otherwise.~"

Having never known Nathan with his powers, Sooraya could easily agree with the fact that he seemed capable of doing great deeds even without them. "~It is not what a man can do, but what he chooses to do that proves who he is,~" she murmured quietly. "~You have done so much... there is no need to doubt that.~"

Nathan took another deep breath and then let it out, oddly content that he'd told her how much being able to help her had meant to him without burdening her with his own issues. Maybe it was a cultural thing, both the need to try and recognize the... balance in their relationship and Sooraya's ability to accept it. "~I told you a few weeks ago that you had as much as to teach as you had to learn,~" he finally said. "~I think that's going to be true for a long time to come. But,~" he said, and the smile turned almost mischievous, "~that doesn't mean that there isn't lots more learning to be done. And I will be there every step of the way if you need me. If you have problems with classes, with getting used to living in the house... with anything.~"

Nodding, Sooraya pursed her lips thoughtfully. A moment later she looked up at him questioningly. "~Anything?~" she asked him.

"~Anything.~"

At that she jumped up, shuffling to her bedside table and pulling something small and green out of the drawer. Returning to where Nathan sat, she held out the lumpy toy, its googly-eyes staring up at him blankly. "~What is a kermit?~"

Staring down at the stuffed toy, Nathan had a sudden, almost overwhelmingly vivid memory of Tyler watching the Muppets. "~He's... Kermit the frog is a puppet,~" Nathan said, taking the stuffed toy with a hesitant smile. "~He's from a children's television show. Actually, several television shows... and movies. A puppeteer makes him move and gives him a voice...~"