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xp_logsAfter this gesture, Amanda takes Meggan to Nate to try and unravel just what this was all about.
It was good to see Nate was getting to be up and about again, Amanda reflected with a brief yawn as she headed down the hall to Nate and Moira's suite. She'd managed to sleep off most of the effort of the memory crystal spell, perhaps faster than usual, but there was still some lingering tiredness there. At least Meggan hadn't been any trouble, she thought, smiling down at the small girl clutching her hand. And it had helped - the link was open again, although they hadn't had a chance to talk yet. No, there was something she needed to work out first.
"Nate?" she called, tapping on the door. "You awake?"
Nathan was indeed awake. He had been skimming the pictures the florist had sent, discarding the arrangements that were obviously nos and saving those that were 'yes' or 'maybe' for Moira. "Come in," he called, recognizing both Amanda and Meggan's presence. As the door open, he smiled at both of them, then placed a finger to his lips. "Bella's sleeping," he told Meggan. "We need to be quiet." Especially since the damned bird had just quieted down after sitting here hooting at him for the last hour. It was nice that she was glad he was walking, but there was no reason to take the celebration to excess.
Meggan nodded, scampering over to rub her cheek against his shoulder, since she wasn't sure if hugging would make him too sore. "Hi," she whispered, smiling at him. She liked Nate, it was always fun to visit him.
"Look at you," Amanda added with a slightly tired smile. "Lost yer wheels."
"Yes indeed. According to the doctorly horde, I'm coming along alarmingly well. Constitution of a horse and all that. Jean is speculating that I have some kind of minor regenerative ability." He
put an arm around Meggan in a brief, warm hug. "Hey, kiddo."
Meggan snuggled up happily. Hugs were good! "~Nate good today,~" she noticed, smiling and patting his chest lightly. "~Happy. Manda good too!~" Manda was feeling a lot better, now, than she had been. Meggan wasn'tsure why, but Manda being happy made Meggan happy too.
"'S good t' see, whatever the reason is," Amanda said,taking a seat on the couch. It wasn't like she'd been around long enough to do much in the way of healing magic, so maybe it was all Nate. "Um, can I talk t' you 'bout somethin'? Well, more of a someone, really." She didn't say Manuel's name, knowing how Meggan would react.
Nathan tilted his head, catching the obvious omission. #Sure,# he sent back telepathically, even as he smiled down at Meggan. "~Nate is good, yes,~" he said in German. "~Good day.~"
Meggan beamed. He didn't feel as sore as he had before, and she patted his knee, giving him a hopeful look. "Up?" she asked coaxingly. She liked being held, and she hadn't been able to sit on Nate's lap while he was in the wheely-chair, because he was still sore.
Nathan hesitated, but then smiled again. "Sure," he said, lifting her carefully - and more with his TK than anything else. He could stand a little discomfort to let her sit on his lap for a bit. #So what's up?#he sent to Amanda as Meggan settled herself.
Meggan was growing more trusting by the day, Amanda thought with a smile - the two of them were so cute. #Hard to explain in words,# she replied, before letting the memory of the incident in the kitchen with Manuel rise to the surface. Once he'd had time to assimilate that, she went on: #It looks like we're talking again, at least, so I need to find out why she reacted so strongly. And she can't really explain it when she doesn't have the words. I was hoping maybe you could help?# As always, her telepathic 'voice' held no trace of the South London accent.
Nathan looked thoughtfully down at the little girl. "Meggan," he saidsoftly, and she looked up at him. He formed a mentalimage of Manuel,then gave it to her - not pushing it at her so much assimply showingit to her. "~Why?~" he murmured in German, adding afew half-formed thoughts of curiosity, tinged with encouragement.
Meggan scowled. "~BAD,~" she responded, in the same language. "~Manuel BAD.~" She didn't know how to show him what she wasthinking, but she tried to remember the scared-hurt-angry-despair that he'd caused, forming the tangle of emotions as clearly as she could in her mind.
This was more than a little confusing. Nathan couldn't help a frown. He could feel her trying to put words to something, plus little flickers of images - Manuel, Amanda, the kitchen - but despite the fact that she was projecting the emotions quite strongly, he couldn't interpret them. Not being an empath himself and all..."Shh," he said comfortingly. "~He's not here.~"
Meggan frowned, cuddling up and resting her forehead against his neck. There. That helped, a little... She tried to make a picture in her mind, the way he did. There was Manuel, with a tangle of jagged spikes of red and black and acid green that represented his emotions overlaying his actual features. "Bad. Sore," she said, in stumbling English, showing him that picture. Then Manda, with tangled knots of sad, hurting colours, black and muddy green and dull brown. "Manuel make," she said, growling a little. "BAD." Then she showed him Manuel again, with the spikes... and then,over the spikes, a thin, obviously false facade of peaceful swirls of pinkand pale blue. Then Meggan herself, a faint monkeylikeshape overlaid with pink and blue, standing next to Manda, who was more tangled up than before. Struggling to keep the pictures clear, she showed Manuel's spikes trying to push in between them, separating them, showing Manda
the spiky side and Meggan the facade. Then, with some satisfaction, she showed the monkey-shape sinking its teeth into Manuel's arm, heroically driving him back from his sneaky, vicious attempt to push her away from Manda."BAD," she finished, with a little growl.
Amanda missed the mental images that went along withthe explanation, but she caught the words, and their meaning. "She thinks Manuel tried t' hurt me?" she asked, frowning. She realised how the turmoil of emotions between her and Manuel must have appeared to Meggan. "~No, love, he didn't hurt me. Not on purpose.~"
"This is," Nathan said with a sigh, "so totally beyond me." He looked back at Amanda. "She's worse off that M--than he was, in terms of distinguishing emotions and intellectual motivations. I have no idea how we're going to explain this to her."
Meggan snuggled down, nosing Nathan's neck a little. "Manuel bad," she repeated firmly. "~Hurt Manda. Try steal Meggan. BAD,~" she added in Romany, giving Manda a firm look. Manda, obviously, had not been able to tell what was going on. (Meggan wasn't sure why, but Manda couldn't seem to see people's insides)
Nathan opened his mouth to say something about Manuel not having intended to steal her, but felt that unmistakable inward tug and hesitated, sending back a ripple of agreement.
Over by the window, Lusanya took shape, gazing at Meggan with a mixture of curiosity and obvious compassion. "Hello, little sister," she said gently.
Meggan stared at the newcomer, wide-eyed. She was... she was a Person,sort of, but she was all insides, the swirl of thought and emotion not overlaid by skin or anything. With a squeak of fright, she scrambled off Nathan's lap and ran to hide behind Manda. "~What?~" she whimpered, clinging tightly to Manda and peeking around her at the no-skin Person.
"~It's all right, Meggan. Lusanya is a friend,~" Amanda soothed, turning and kneeling so she could wrapMeggan in a comforting hug. "~She's like you, sees how people feel.~"
Meggan hugged back, then, cautiously, approached the no-skin Person. All the emotions she sensed were kindly, even if it was scary to see someone appear out of the air with no skin on. "Hi," she said shyly, poised to bolt back to Manda if anything else scary happened.
Lusanya gave her a warm smile. "Meggan," she said firmly, then touched her chin with a finger, as if indicating herself. "Lusanya. Lucy." She looked up at Amanda and Nathan. "I thought perhaps I might be of assistance?" she asked.
"~A wise person never turns down assistance gladly offered,~" Amanda said in Askani with a slight smile and a nod of her head as she rose, moving a little closer so Meggan would have the security ofknowing she was within arm's length. "I think you startled her," she continued in English. "Poppin' out like that. But I wouldn't say no t' some help here. She seems t' think Manuel was tryin' t' steal her, an' I've got no idea why."
Meggan glanced back at Manda, then, reassured, looked up at the newcomer. "Loo-cy," she tried, paws clasped anxiously in front of her. She heard the familiar name, and sighed. Apparently He was going to be a big topic of conversation today. "Manuel BAD," she told Lucy, determined to make her position clear immediately.
Lusanya shook her head slowly, still smiling gently at the little girl. "Manuel is scared," she said softly. "Afraid. Underneath it all." Carefully, she visualized different layers of emotion, peeling back to reveal the fear within. She was uncertain if this would be useful to the child, and certainly it would be easier if she could only project, but it was what she could do, here and now. Meticulously, she detailed the connections between the emotions, how
one provoked the other.
Meggan watched the sparkling patterns for a while, more than a little bewildered by their complexity. When it was finished, she gave Lusanya a puzzled look. "Manuel BAD," she repeated, sticking with what she did understand.
"C'mon, Meg, let's sort this out sittin' down, yeah?" Amanda broke in, seeing an impasse, tugging Meggan gently towards the couch. It looked too much like an interrogation as it was. "Why did she think Manuel was tryin' t' steal her?" she asked Lusanya once they were settled, Meggan curled against her, one paw holding tightly to the material of her jeans leg. "She knows nothin' would get between her an' me, or she should."
Lusanya shook her head. "I do not believe it had anything to do with you," she said, part of her slightly distressed by the child's lack of reaction. What was it about this time, that empaths were raised in conditions that made empathizing in the non-mutant way so difficult for them? Without a strong foundation of support it was nearly impossible to build. Although Meggan was much younger, her personality less formed, the Askani tried to reassure herself. It would not be simple by any means, but there were many fewer restrictive personality patterns to hamper her natural development than there had been with Manuel.
"He put on a false face," she went on, Nathan and Amanda still clearly waiting for a response. "A veneer of kindness and reassurance. Apparently he did not believe her capable of seeing through it - which she did, to the emotions beneath. She believes him deceptive, now." Lusanya reminded herself to point out to Manuel just how foolish it was to underestimate a fellow empath's perceptivity, even when the fellow empath was a child.
Amanda shook her head in exasperation. "He did that projectin' reassurance thin' while at the same time he felt..." She winced very slightly, remembering the venom in the words he'd directed at her. "When he wasstill pissed off at me."
Meggan snuggled up to Manda, trying to follow what little she could of the conversation. It was confusing. "Manuel hurt Manda," she said, stickingto the important point. "Bad. Bite," she added, with some satisfaction, and then she drooped. "Bite bad."
"I think I'm getting it now," Nathan said with a sigh. "It's the same problem he has, in a sense. The emotions are important - the rationale behind them, not so much." He smiled a little wistfully at Meggan. "She can only react based on what she senses. She's got no other basis. Yet."
Lusanya nodded. "Precisely," she said, just as gently. "She's very young, as well. A further complication... though one that will rectify itself with time, obviously." She smiled at Meggan again, leaving her own emotions very much open to be perceived.
"An' people say I'm the headblind one," Amanda said with a roll of her eyes and then a quick, apologetic grin to Nathan. "Power's not the only way t' see," she went on. "What's the point of havin' the power if you don't use yer brain as well?"
Meggan was watching Lucy. Her patterns were... funny. But nice and clear. Unconsciously, she started to mimic Lucy's patterns with her own, falling into a calm, more contemplative state as she watched the long loops of energy twine around each other. She didn't even notice when her fur started to lighten, her hair becoming more blonde than pale brown. The swirls were pretty, they made a pattern, like flower-petals...
Lusanya chuckled softly, seeing the change. "Well. There is that saying you have in this time about imitation being the sincerest form of flattery."
"That'd be the other part of her powers," Amanda said softly, not wanting to disturb Meggan. She could feel the child's sudden calm, the relaxing of muscles that had been tense since the conversation had started. #Is she tuning into one of those patterns you talk about?# she asked generally, aiming the question at either of them mentally. #It seems to be working really well.#
Nathan let his perceptions slide a few levels downward, and saw with a certain amount of pleased surprise that that was precisely what Meggan was doing. #Interesting,# he said. #She's mimicking Lusanya's patterns, yeah. I'd never thought of how much easier it might be for a shapeshifter who's also a psi...#
"A rare combination of gifts," Lusanya murmured approvingly, nothing but warmth in her voice and in the emotions that were there, open for the child to see.
Meggan curled up against Manda, letting the pattern lull her into a half-doze. It was nice... no knots or spikes in the emotions, just an endless ripple of calm azure energy going around and around the complicated pattern. "Pretty," she murmured, smiling drowsily.
Amanda wrapped her arm around the sleepy girl, oddly reassured by the the way she was relaxing. The problem with Manuel wasn't solved, but at least she understood what the problem was. "Very pretty," she agreed, stroking back the blondeish hair, before looking up at Lusanya. "Thanks, for yer help."
"Perhaps something else can be done." Lusanya looked back at Nathan. "Let myself and perhaps my father think on it," she said as she faded from view.
Nathan was chewing on his lower lip as she vanished, processing the implications of that. "I'll let you know if they come up with... anything," he said finally, a bit helplessly.
"At this point in time, I'm willin' t' listen t' whatever advice anyone has," Amanda said with a small, wry smile.
It was good to see Nate was getting to be up and about again, Amanda reflected with a brief yawn as she headed down the hall to Nate and Moira's suite. She'd managed to sleep off most of the effort of the memory crystal spell, perhaps faster than usual, but there was still some lingering tiredness there. At least Meggan hadn't been any trouble, she thought, smiling down at the small girl clutching her hand. And it had helped - the link was open again, although they hadn't had a chance to talk yet. No, there was something she needed to work out first.
"Nate?" she called, tapping on the door. "You awake?"
Nathan was indeed awake. He had been skimming the pictures the florist had sent, discarding the arrangements that were obviously nos and saving those that were 'yes' or 'maybe' for Moira. "Come in," he called, recognizing both Amanda and Meggan's presence. As the door open, he smiled at both of them, then placed a finger to his lips. "Bella's sleeping," he told Meggan. "We need to be quiet." Especially since the damned bird had just quieted down after sitting here hooting at him for the last hour. It was nice that she was glad he was walking, but there was no reason to take the celebration to excess.
Meggan nodded, scampering over to rub her cheek against his shoulder, since she wasn't sure if hugging would make him too sore. "Hi," she whispered, smiling at him. She liked Nate, it was always fun to visit him.
"Look at you," Amanda added with a slightly tired smile. "Lost yer wheels."
"Yes indeed. According to the doctorly horde, I'm coming along alarmingly well. Constitution of a horse and all that. Jean is speculating that I have some kind of minor regenerative ability." He
put an arm around Meggan in a brief, warm hug. "Hey, kiddo."
Meggan snuggled up happily. Hugs were good! "~Nate good today,~" she noticed, smiling and patting his chest lightly. "~Happy. Manda good too!~" Manda was feeling a lot better, now, than she had been. Meggan wasn'tsure why, but Manda being happy made Meggan happy too.
"'S good t' see, whatever the reason is," Amanda said,taking a seat on the couch. It wasn't like she'd been around long enough to do much in the way of healing magic, so maybe it was all Nate. "Um, can I talk t' you 'bout somethin'? Well, more of a someone, really." She didn't say Manuel's name, knowing how Meggan would react.
Nathan tilted his head, catching the obvious omission. #Sure,# he sent back telepathically, even as he smiled down at Meggan. "~Nate is good, yes,~" he said in German. "~Good day.~"
Meggan beamed. He didn't feel as sore as he had before, and she patted his knee, giving him a hopeful look. "Up?" she asked coaxingly. She liked being held, and she hadn't been able to sit on Nate's lap while he was in the wheely-chair, because he was still sore.
Nathan hesitated, but then smiled again. "Sure," he said, lifting her carefully - and more with his TK than anything else. He could stand a little discomfort to let her sit on his lap for a bit. #So what's up?#he sent to Amanda as Meggan settled herself.
Meggan was growing more trusting by the day, Amanda thought with a smile - the two of them were so cute. #Hard to explain in words,# she replied, before letting the memory of the incident in the kitchen with Manuel rise to the surface. Once he'd had time to assimilate that, she went on: #It looks like we're talking again, at least, so I need to find out why she reacted so strongly. And she can't really explain it when she doesn't have the words. I was hoping maybe you could help?# As always, her telepathic 'voice' held no trace of the South London accent.
Nathan looked thoughtfully down at the little girl. "Meggan," he saidsoftly, and she looked up at him. He formed a mentalimage of Manuel,then gave it to her - not pushing it at her so much assimply showingit to her. "~Why?~" he murmured in German, adding afew half-formed thoughts of curiosity, tinged with encouragement.
Meggan scowled. "~BAD,~" she responded, in the same language. "~Manuel BAD.~" She didn't know how to show him what she wasthinking, but she tried to remember the scared-hurt-angry-despair that he'd caused, forming the tangle of emotions as clearly as she could in her mind.
This was more than a little confusing. Nathan couldn't help a frown. He could feel her trying to put words to something, plus little flickers of images - Manuel, Amanda, the kitchen - but despite the fact that she was projecting the emotions quite strongly, he couldn't interpret them. Not being an empath himself and all..."Shh," he said comfortingly. "~He's not here.~"
Meggan frowned, cuddling up and resting her forehead against his neck. There. That helped, a little... She tried to make a picture in her mind, the way he did. There was Manuel, with a tangle of jagged spikes of red and black and acid green that represented his emotions overlaying his actual features. "Bad. Sore," she said, in stumbling English, showing him that picture. Then Manda, with tangled knots of sad, hurting colours, black and muddy green and dull brown. "Manuel make," she said, growling a little. "BAD." Then she showed him Manuel again, with the spikes... and then,over the spikes, a thin, obviously false facade of peaceful swirls of pinkand pale blue. Then Meggan herself, a faint monkeylikeshape overlaid with pink and blue, standing next to Manda, who was more tangled up than before. Struggling to keep the pictures clear, she showed Manuel's spikes trying to push in between them, separating them, showing Manda
the spiky side and Meggan the facade. Then, with some satisfaction, she showed the monkey-shape sinking its teeth into Manuel's arm, heroically driving him back from his sneaky, vicious attempt to push her away from Manda."BAD," she finished, with a little growl.
Amanda missed the mental images that went along withthe explanation, but she caught the words, and their meaning. "She thinks Manuel tried t' hurt me?" she asked, frowning. She realised how the turmoil of emotions between her and Manuel must have appeared to Meggan. "~No, love, he didn't hurt me. Not on purpose.~"
"This is," Nathan said with a sigh, "so totally beyond me." He looked back at Amanda. "She's worse off that M--than he was, in terms of distinguishing emotions and intellectual motivations. I have no idea how we're going to explain this to her."
Meggan snuggled down, nosing Nathan's neck a little. "Manuel bad," she repeated firmly. "~Hurt Manda. Try steal Meggan. BAD,~" she added in Romany, giving Manda a firm look. Manda, obviously, had not been able to tell what was going on. (Meggan wasn't sure why, but Manda couldn't seem to see people's insides)
Nathan opened his mouth to say something about Manuel not having intended to steal her, but felt that unmistakable inward tug and hesitated, sending back a ripple of agreement.
Over by the window, Lusanya took shape, gazing at Meggan with a mixture of curiosity and obvious compassion. "Hello, little sister," she said gently.
Meggan stared at the newcomer, wide-eyed. She was... she was a Person,sort of, but she was all insides, the swirl of thought and emotion not overlaid by skin or anything. With a squeak of fright, she scrambled off Nathan's lap and ran to hide behind Manda. "~What?~" she whimpered, clinging tightly to Manda and peeking around her at the no-skin Person.
"~It's all right, Meggan. Lusanya is a friend,~" Amanda soothed, turning and kneeling so she could wrapMeggan in a comforting hug. "~She's like you, sees how people feel.~"
Meggan hugged back, then, cautiously, approached the no-skin Person. All the emotions she sensed were kindly, even if it was scary to see someone appear out of the air with no skin on. "Hi," she said shyly, poised to bolt back to Manda if anything else scary happened.
Lusanya gave her a warm smile. "Meggan," she said firmly, then touched her chin with a finger, as if indicating herself. "Lusanya. Lucy." She looked up at Amanda and Nathan. "I thought perhaps I might be of assistance?" she asked.
"~A wise person never turns down assistance gladly offered,~" Amanda said in Askani with a slight smile and a nod of her head as she rose, moving a little closer so Meggan would have the security ofknowing she was within arm's length. "I think you startled her," she continued in English. "Poppin' out like that. But I wouldn't say no t' some help here. She seems t' think Manuel was tryin' t' steal her, an' I've got no idea why."
Meggan glanced back at Manda, then, reassured, looked up at the newcomer. "Loo-cy," she tried, paws clasped anxiously in front of her. She heard the familiar name, and sighed. Apparently He was going to be a big topic of conversation today. "Manuel BAD," she told Lucy, determined to make her position clear immediately.
Lusanya shook her head slowly, still smiling gently at the little girl. "Manuel is scared," she said softly. "Afraid. Underneath it all." Carefully, she visualized different layers of emotion, peeling back to reveal the fear within. She was uncertain if this would be useful to the child, and certainly it would be easier if she could only project, but it was what she could do, here and now. Meticulously, she detailed the connections between the emotions, how
one provoked the other.
Meggan watched the sparkling patterns for a while, more than a little bewildered by their complexity. When it was finished, she gave Lusanya a puzzled look. "Manuel BAD," she repeated, sticking with what she did understand.
"C'mon, Meg, let's sort this out sittin' down, yeah?" Amanda broke in, seeing an impasse, tugging Meggan gently towards the couch. It looked too much like an interrogation as it was. "Why did she think Manuel was tryin' t' steal her?" she asked Lusanya once they were settled, Meggan curled against her, one paw holding tightly to the material of her jeans leg. "She knows nothin' would get between her an' me, or she should."
Lusanya shook her head. "I do not believe it had anything to do with you," she said, part of her slightly distressed by the child's lack of reaction. What was it about this time, that empaths were raised in conditions that made empathizing in the non-mutant way so difficult for them? Without a strong foundation of support it was nearly impossible to build. Although Meggan was much younger, her personality less formed, the Askani tried to reassure herself. It would not be simple by any means, but there were many fewer restrictive personality patterns to hamper her natural development than there had been with Manuel.
"He put on a false face," she went on, Nathan and Amanda still clearly waiting for a response. "A veneer of kindness and reassurance. Apparently he did not believe her capable of seeing through it - which she did, to the emotions beneath. She believes him deceptive, now." Lusanya reminded herself to point out to Manuel just how foolish it was to underestimate a fellow empath's perceptivity, even when the fellow empath was a child.
Amanda shook her head in exasperation. "He did that projectin' reassurance thin' while at the same time he felt..." She winced very slightly, remembering the venom in the words he'd directed at her. "When he wasstill pissed off at me."
Meggan snuggled up to Manda, trying to follow what little she could of the conversation. It was confusing. "Manuel hurt Manda," she said, stickingto the important point. "Bad. Bite," she added, with some satisfaction, and then she drooped. "Bite bad."
"I think I'm getting it now," Nathan said with a sigh. "It's the same problem he has, in a sense. The emotions are important - the rationale behind them, not so much." He smiled a little wistfully at Meggan. "She can only react based on what she senses. She's got no other basis. Yet."
Lusanya nodded. "Precisely," she said, just as gently. "She's very young, as well. A further complication... though one that will rectify itself with time, obviously." She smiled at Meggan again, leaving her own emotions very much open to be perceived.
"An' people say I'm the headblind one," Amanda said with a roll of her eyes and then a quick, apologetic grin to Nathan. "Power's not the only way t' see," she went on. "What's the point of havin' the power if you don't use yer brain as well?"
Meggan was watching Lucy. Her patterns were... funny. But nice and clear. Unconsciously, she started to mimic Lucy's patterns with her own, falling into a calm, more contemplative state as she watched the long loops of energy twine around each other. She didn't even notice when her fur started to lighten, her hair becoming more blonde than pale brown. The swirls were pretty, they made a pattern, like flower-petals...
Lusanya chuckled softly, seeing the change. "Well. There is that saying you have in this time about imitation being the sincerest form of flattery."
"That'd be the other part of her powers," Amanda said softly, not wanting to disturb Meggan. She could feel the child's sudden calm, the relaxing of muscles that had been tense since the conversation had started. #Is she tuning into one of those patterns you talk about?# she asked generally, aiming the question at either of them mentally. #It seems to be working really well.#
Nathan let his perceptions slide a few levels downward, and saw with a certain amount of pleased surprise that that was precisely what Meggan was doing. #Interesting,# he said. #She's mimicking Lusanya's patterns, yeah. I'd never thought of how much easier it might be for a shapeshifter who's also a psi...#
"A rare combination of gifts," Lusanya murmured approvingly, nothing but warmth in her voice and in the emotions that were there, open for the child to see.
Meggan curled up against Manda, letting the pattern lull her into a half-doze. It was nice... no knots or spikes in the emotions, just an endless ripple of calm azure energy going around and around the complicated pattern. "Pretty," she murmured, smiling drowsily.
Amanda wrapped her arm around the sleepy girl, oddly reassured by the the way she was relaxing. The problem with Manuel wasn't solved, but at least she understood what the problem was. "Very pretty," she agreed, stroking back the blondeish hair, before looking up at Lusanya. "Thanks, for yer help."
"Perhaps something else can be done." Lusanya looked back at Nathan. "Let myself and perhaps my father think on it," she said as she faded from view.
Nathan was chewing on his lower lip as she vanished, processing the implications of that. "I'll let you know if they come up with... anything," he said finally, a bit helplessly.
"At this point in time, I'm willin' t' listen t' whatever advice anyone has," Amanda said with a small, wry smile.
