xp_logs | Scott and Sooraya | Tuesday afternoon

During his rounds of the school, Scott comes across Sooraya in the library. He stops to see how she's doing after the stress of the week, and finds that the adults aren't the only ones with a well-weathered attitude towards life's twists and turns.

This was 'rounds', of a sort. Scott moved quietly through the main floor of the school, just to get a sense of the atmosphere - and to let himself be seen, just in case anyone needed to talk. Not everyone was comfortable coming to his office, of course.

All seemed quiet, but Scott kept going, wanting to make a complete circuit of the ground floor before heading back down to the Situation Room to do his work there. Library next, he thought, heading that way.

Sooraya usually studied in her suite, since it was quieter there and there was less chance of being interrupted by strangers or goofy classmates. But right now it seemed best to be out of her suite, so that Jennie could rest and Crystal could relax that no one was going to spoil her roommate's peace and quiet. So she had come to the library, which was the next best place for silence, and spread out her books and papers on one of the empty tables to work.

Scott paused, spotting the girl at her table. He'd wondered how she was doing with all of this, given her own background... "Hello, Sooraya," he said softly, coming up beside her, careful not to startle her.

Glancing up quickly, the Afghan girl recognized the headmaster and gave him a shy smile. She had heard that he had been part of the team that had helped her fellow students, and wondered if a 'thank you' would be too out of place. "Hello, Mr. Summers," she replied, setting down her pencil on her notebook.

Scott smiled back at her, not too broadly. He was always afraid of startling her, which was possibly a bizarre sort of worry to have, but he didn't seem to be able to quite get past it. "It's sunny in here. A good place to work at this time of the day..."

"Yes, and it is very quiet. Miss Tabitha asks for everyone to be quiet when they are here. It is helpful for studying too," Sooraya agreed.

Scott sank into the chair opposite hers. "How are you doing this week?" he asked yet another of the mansion's kidnapping victims. "It's been very stressful for everyone, I know."

Sooraya looked almost surprised that he had asked her that. "I am fine, thank you. It is good that my friends are back and that they will be well. When they were gone we were all very scared, but now that they are home it is better."

Scott nodded thoughtfully, watching her. It didn't have the ring of a youngster in denial - just a level of acceptance of what had happened that was remarkably mature for someone of her age. "I'm glad it's better. I know that sometimes it's hard to go back to... normal life after this sort of thing. You keep wondering when it will happen again."

"Yes," came the solemn reply, though the girl's expression lightened a moment later. "But I do not think you can let this make you afraid all the time. If you do, your life will become a very scared thing, and you will not enjoy it."

Scott smiled at her. "It's a good perspective to have," he said, wishing he'd had that amount of wisdom at that age. Or, well, when he was ten years older.

"I have learned it from my own life," Sooraya told him, feeling a little funny divulging this information even as she knew he already knew it all. "And I know that many people do not understand, because I think their lives are not used to such danger. Maybe it is a good thing, to not know what it is like."

"I think... it would be nice if people never had to find that out," Scott said after another long pause. "But I think with who and what we are, it's almost inevitable, sometimes. It's more of a shock to people who aren't used to it."

"Yes, I think you are right," she replied, blushing a moment later. Of course he was right, he was the headmaster; he didn't need a girl confirming what he already knew. "I am sorry," she murmured. "I know you are right."

"Don't apologize. This is a conversation, not a lesson," Scott said, his lips twitching. "The people who aren't used to it... maybe there's a way for them to adapt their thinking by talking to people like you, who are. To lessen the shock, at least."

"I will be happy to talk of such things. But I do not know if they will like to hear them," Sooraya replied honestly, picking up her pencil in a slightly nervous gesture. "They do not like to think this is how the world is."

Scott rubbed at his jaw. "It is how the world is," he said, not looking at Sooraya, "but the world is you, here, too. Studying and making friends, and about as far away from the life you were living as imaginable."

"Yes. And I am glad for this, too."

Enough with the philosophy, Scott decided. "Would you want to take part in something off-campus, if we could come up with something to do in the area?" he asked. He'd been contemplating a field trip - well-guarded, of course, in hopes of getting the atmosphere back to something approaching normal.

There was a quiet pause for a moment, and then Sooraya nodded, setting her pencil down firmly on her paper. "Yes, I would like to do this. There are many things I have not done yet." And she trusted the teachers and the school to do their best to keep everyone safe, despite the dangers that might lurk around every corner.

Scott, meeting her steady gaze, felt some of the accumulated tension of the week starting to lift. When we have students like this, how can we not be able to pick ourselves up and move on? "Then I will put you on the list," he said, lightly. "Thank you, Sooraya."

"Thank you, Mr. Summers," she replied in turn. "I am glad I am here, to learn these things. And I am glad there are many good people to learn them from."