xp_logs | Kurt and Wanda

Following her e-mail asking to talk to him, he goes to the greenhouse and she tells him what she found out about Amanda's origins.

Wanda sat in her usual place in the garden, legs crossed as she meditated quietly. It had been a long couple of weeks and she was feeling slightly...off. There was no reason, only that she was. Maybe it was the feeling that she was meddling in things she shouldn't be.

But she shrugged. Kurt had as much right as Amanda to know the truth.

Kurt made his way to the greenhouse as soon as he read Wanda's e-mail, and headed straight for the place he knew she preferred for her meditation. "Wanda?"

"Kurt, we need to talk." There was a seriousness that normally did not find a place in her voice and she stood, wiping her pants off. Gesturing at the bench, she settled down, mind firmly in 'the researcher' mode she was known to get into. "It is about Amanda. And you."

He blinked and sat down on the bench, not understanding. "How so?"

"You weren't there but you certainly heard about the demon attack," she said, a little dryly. It was odd how nonchalant she was about the entire thing, at least when speaking about it. "Nearly all that it spoke was gibberish to us, with the exception of Amanda and Doug. Except for one thing. I overheard what I found out to be her actual name. With her permission I started doing some digging, it was too similar to a Rom origin to overlook." Wanda paused and looked over at Kurt, eyebrows going up a bit. "Kurt? What was your sister's name? The one that was taken?"

His eyes widened as he started to suspect where this was going. "Gemile..."

"Names hold power in magic and I promised her I would not speak it. But, yes. In my search, I dug not only into the records in Germany but also tapped my contacts. A girl bearing that name was born in your family, blonde hair. Amanda colours her hair, did you know that? I found out from one of the doctor's that is is actually blonde. Someone came and took the child--you say a warden of the state. _I_ say Rack, disguised and lying."

He froze where he sat, his suspicions confirmed. His voice came out in a disbelieving near-whisper. "Amanda... is my sister?"

"The odds are looking good, yes." Wanda shrugged and rummaged in her pocket for the papers she had copied for Kurt. Copies of the copies for Amanda, actually. "Without further tests, DNA, there is some chance that my research and findings are inaccurate. I should warn you, my friend, she did not take this news well."

He looked through the papers, still struggling to take the news in. "No, she... has certain fundamental differences of opinion with me..."

Well, that was certainly true. "It is not just that. I poked around and found out about this Rack character. He told her that she was _sold_ and I think, as a child, when no one came to rescue her...she started to believe him."

Kurt's eyes closed, pained. "My mother looked. I remember her going to the government offices all day, every day, for weeks on end, to demand to know where Gemile had been taken..."

Reaching over, Wanda settled a hand on his shoulder. "And they did not have the answers to your questions because there is no official record of Amanda. Rack lied to your family and escaped out of Germany and the government officials were none the wiser."

He nodded bleakly. "That would seem to make sense, yes."

"I figured Amanda would simply let things be. Yet it is not fair to not tell you and simply ignore that I know."

"I do not know what the best thing is to do", he admitted quietly. "Does she know you were going to speak to me?"

Wanda had the grace to look a little embarrassed. Not much but there was some. "No, actually, I'm fairly positive I would have known what my ~niece's~ response would be," she responded, mimicking Amanda and her cover at the restaurant when she first told her. "I was kidding about the niece bit, by the way," was said to sooth Kurt's frazzled look.

Kurt nodded. "I suppose I should speak with her about it. Tell her the truth where Rack lied, perhaps."

"It might take more to convince her but it is a start. And you know you have my support and help in this, yes?" Both of them, really.

He smiled slightly. "I suspect I will need it. Thank you."

"~We are Rom, family. Who else do we have if not each other?~" Wanda smiled at him and patted his shoulder again. That would not be a fun conversation, she was willing to bet.

Kurt nodded gratefully. "Thank you all the same. Will you tell her you have told me? I think she might take it a little better than me approaching her out of the blue..."

She grinned a little, flashing a bit of teeth. "Of course, if it will make things easier down the road. Which it should. I will e-mail her when I get back to my room."

"I would appreciate that. I can only hope this turns out... reasonably well..."

"At the worst, you both know and are able to deal with this in your own way."

"Indeed. And neither of us is pretending not to know."

"Pretending will not get anyone anywhere. But talking about it will at least get you _somewhere_. It may not be where you want to be but it is better than nothing, in the end."

He gave her a rueful grin. "Very true. I can hope she will agree to meet the clan... but perhaps best not hope for that too hard, for now."

"She did, when I met her, seemed interested in meeting someone from the caravans," Wanda ventured but then shook her head. "Different circumstances, though, I'm afraid. But I hope it will all work out for you both in the end."

He smiled sadly. "Oh, me too. I have been hoping for something like this for a very long time... strange, how things work out."

She spread her hands and smiled a little. "Welcome to Xavier's, the mutant sink hole."