xp_logs | Sooraya and Domino | Monday afternoon

Sooraya meets an old friend of Nathan's whose background is startlingly similar to her own.

Sooraya nearly skipped as she made her way down to the boathouse. She
had in her hand a math quiz that she had gotten back on Friday, and
though she didn't want to bother Nathan too much while he was
recovering from Prague, she thought he might want to see it. She gave
a light knock on the door and then let herself in, a wide smile on her
face. It faded somewhat a moment later as she took in the sight of a
strange woman sitting on the living room rug, playing with Rachel. The
little redhead seemed happy enough, which meant the woman wasn't a
stranger to her, but Sooraya felt a sudden flush of shyness come over
her. "Oh. Hello," she said timidly, not know what else to do. Should
she leave?

Rachel looked up and ooohed at the sight of Sooraya, clambering to her
feet and running over, holding out her arms to be picked up. Domino
smiled, watching them. It was pretty clear who the girl was, and hey,
this saved her having to go introduce herself. Which she'd been fully
planning to do, for various reasons.

"Sooraya?" she asked, her smile growing as the girl nodded. "I'm Dom.
Nathan's maybe mentioned me...?"

Recognition dawned on Sooraya's face and she nodded, hefting Rachel
onto her tip and giving the girl a squeeze. "Yes, he did. He says many
stories of you."

"Well, I give him a lot to talk about." Domino got up, brushing at her
slacks. "I've been wanting to meet you," she confessed, sitting down
on the couch and gesturing to the spot beside her. "He talks a lot
about you, too. And we have something pretty important in common."

Sooraya carried Rachel across the room, setting her back on the floor
with her toys before taking a seat next to Domino on the couch. She
gave the woman a slightly stronger smile, despite still feeling a
little nervous. "He has rescued you too, yes?" she ventured. "Some
time ago."

"Years ago. From someone who thought I was their property. So you
see," Domino said, almost whimsically, "we do have even more in common
than you thought."

"I am glad you are rescued." Sooraya ducked her head, looking at her
hands and trying to think of what to say next.

"It's hard, isn't it?" Domino was looking at her hands, too. "Knowing
what to think, sometimes. Getting used to the idea of being able to
make all of these choices for yourself... I know it took me a very
long time."

"We are very lucky," Sooraya murmured. "I am happy to be here. But..
you are right. It is strange, to not be... there now. And all
the others, they do not understand. And I cannot tell them, because
they have not lived it."

Domino reached out and took Rachel's hands as the baby bounded over
and grabbed her knees with a squeal. "I'll give you my email address -
you do the email thing now, right?" she asked casually. "Nate should
have given it to you before. But if you want to talk to someone who
has lived it... there's me. And, believe it or not, there's Nate,
too."

"Yes?" Sooraya glanced up, looking surprised. True, Nathan had said
things here and there that led her to believe that his beginnings were
not so dissimilar to her own. But she hadn't even felt like it was her
place to ask exactly what they were.

"Yeah... you should ask him." Mostly because Dom wasn't sure precisely
how to explain Mistra to her. "The thing that was different about
him... he lived for years and years like that. I think that makes him
more determined to prevent people like us from having to stay in
situations like that for that long."

Sooraya nodded. "He is very generous. I do not think he can see a
person that is needing help and not do a thing for it. Like Prague."
She shivered a bit thinking of the look on his face when he had
returned. "It is not good for him all the time, I think. He will try
too hard."

"He and I used to climb mountains, years ago, did he ever tell you
that? I used to give him such a hard time, because he'd push so hard
on the ascent, and then not have as much as he should left for getting
back down." Domino grinned a bit sheepishly. "I give him a hard time a
lot. It's how he knows I love him."

"I do too," Sooraya admitted bashfully. "Love him. Not make the hard
time. I make food, instead."

Domino gave her a warmer smile as she lifted Rachel onto her lap. "~He
loves you, too,~" she said, slipping into flawless Dari. She wasn't
the linguist Nathan was, but she'd been to Afghanistan often enough
that it was one of the language she'd focused on. "~You should hear
the pride in his voice when he tells me about how fast you've learned
English and how well you're doing in school.~"

Sooraya couldn't believe her ears - both at Dom's easy use of her
native language and the words she was saying. Of course she knew that
Nathan was happy with her progress, but this was even more
heartwarming. "~It is because of him that I can do these things. Of
course I will try to do my best at them,~" she told the woman, once
again focusing her hands in her lap. "~One day I want to help people,
like he does. I will try my hardest to be able to do that, to make use
of the gift he has given me.~"

Rachel squealed again, waving her hands, and Domino laughed, dropping
a kiss on the red curls. "~I think that's approval.~"

With a grin Sooraya held a hand out for Rachel to grab, her other hand still clutching her math quiz. "~I am glad you think it's good, little one,~" she told the toddler. "~Your father is a very good role model.~"